Moving to Peace
by burmafrd
Summary: VERY AU. NO ALIENS. CC, Adult.  ALL DUE HOMAGE TO JASON KATIMS.  I am just doing this for fun.  Sometimes it is harder to transistion to Peace then it is to go to War.
1. Chapter 1

All hail Jason Katims for his creation, if not how he handled them. This is of course VERY AU. Going to War showed the warrior Liz. Now she has to figure out a way to more or less remain a warrior at peace. Great Kudos to Mary Mary for the Banner!

Liz was very nervous. She was about to be installed as an Honorary Member of the British Empire; and the very first to use the new title, Knightress. The Queen had decided that since there were going to be in the future women that would be warriors, and leaders, that they should have a female variant of Knight in their title. There was precedent for that; Baron vs Baroness. Still Liz would always be the first to have that honorific that separated her from what the title would have been before for a woman, Dame. That would now be used for those such as actresses and the like; leaders and warriors would be a Knightress. Of course Liz could not really use it, since she was not a British Citizen. That was why it was called Honorary. And why they thought it would be ok for her to be the first in that way. Somewhere down the road a British woman would be the first OFFICIAL Knightress. But nothing could take away the honor of being first overall.

Max, Aliya, Nancy, Ted, (with Max holding James) were all there waiting in the small audience for the ceremony to begin. It was a little different than some of the others. Even though it was honorary, the Queen decided that Liz should get the traditional sword part of the ceremony, since Liz had been awarded all this for services to Her Majesties Armed forces and Subjects. Liz had the Mess Dress Class A's today; which was different from the normal class A. There had been a truly ridiculous amount of back and forth from the Royal Family protocol people; and the US DOD. It had been debated and decided that Liz would wear her Mess Dress Long Skirt and Sword. All of which she had to have made especially for her. Then Liz too lessons on what to do with a sword; the Brits even sent an expert to Ft Campbell to instruct her on what she needed to do. This was a very new thing for the Brit Protocol wonks and it apparently threw them all for a loop. Liz had been amused for a while, but then it gradually began to dawn on her just how important this was. She as an American was becoming the first British Knightress. She herself figured that this would be an experiment and if it failed no big deal because she was a Yank.

It had engendered a fair amount of comment from all sides. Both in the US and in England. Making her an honorary member of the British Empire was not a problem to anyone; all agreed it was well deserved. It was the Knightress part that started it off; then when it was let out that the Queen would be giving her the ceremonial part as regards the sword to the Shoulder, it all really hit the fan. It was not, except for some really old fogies, a problem with her not earning that honor. She was a warrior and no one argued with that. Just that she was an American.

One thing had come of all this; something that had been with Liz since she was old enough to understand. Her father had left her mother before she was even born. They had gotten married out of High School and Nancy had gotten pregnant soon after; and he had been terrified of this and had fled before Nancy was 7 months along. Nancy had been very lucky to get the job with the Worland City government just after Liz was born. Nancy had divorced him not long after; he had never contacted her again. Nancy had not even gotten around to changing her name; and so Liz was a Parker from her mother's side. Tom Solange had been his name. Nancy had contacted his parents not long after and had found out that he had not told them anything. Not long after that they had died in a car crash; and they had not had any other children. Nancy's only family had been her mother; her father had died some years earlier from a heart attack. Claudia sadly had died when Liz was 6.

When Liz got her security clearance raised upon acceptance into the 160th, her background check had been updated. And by pure chance in a standard search they had found out Tom Solange's fate. Got drunk and ran his car into a tree when Liz was 9. This had been placed in Liz's file, and when reviewing it she found the information and she had informed her mother, who really had very little to say about him. But at least it was closure.

Liz looking at her background file had been generated by a request from the Brits about her genealogy. She had out of curiosity done a bit of a search and found that she was related to John Parker, the Captain of the Lexington Militia. She gave what she knew to the Brits and they had come up with a family tree that could be traced back to the late 1400's. She was related to the Parker that was Archbishop of Canterbury under Queen Elizabeth I. It was very interesting to her.

Apparently to the Brits as well. Part of the whole MBE part was showing your family tree. Liz figured that she had a pretty good one overall.

The negotiations (which is what Liz called them) between the DOD and the Royal Protocol bunch had decided that this would be how it went. Liz would be the last one honored. She would approach the Queen and salute with her sword; she would then sheath it and kneel; then the Queen would dub her Knightress and defender of the British Crown. Liz would stand, bow, then back away and return to her place in line. She just hoped she would not trip over the long skirt.

And she was very thankful she didn't. Lots of pictures got taken. One difference between Mess Dress and regular Class A is that the Medals are worn; not the ribbons. And Liz had a bunch. She actually rivaled a fair number of the senior officers there. A fact remarked upon by many.

"counting them up we have the Presidential Medal of Freedom; 2 Presidential Unit Citations; the Distinguished Service Cross; the Distinguished Flying cross for the US and for the UK; Legion of Merit; 2 Purple hearts; the Combat Action Badge; the Soldier's Medal."

Nancy was so proud she could pop; Liz looked incredible in the Mess Dress Blue Class A; with her Sword and all the medals and everything.

Liz did one quieter visit while in the UK; she visited the HQ of the Scottish Regiment to receive honorable membership of the Regiment due to her services in Afghanistan. It was very interesting; the old building with the Flags from centuries ago and the mementos there. It was also a full dress occasion and while there she met Corporal Jones and his parents who again and again thanked her for saving their son. It was a little embarrassing for Liz; and while there she got drawn into a TV interview that was visiting the Regiment at the same time.

"Major Parker, or Knightress Parker, which do you prefer?"

"Major Parker. That seems average and ordinary and that way I can usually slip away without anyone noticing."

"When the honor was explained to you, what was your first reaction?"

"Picking my jaw off the floor after it fell off."

"You are by far the most decorated woman soldier in History. How does that feel?"

"Like it is happening to someone else. I just seem to get myself in those situations and by the Grace of God I get out of them in one piece and seem to be able to get everyone else out as well."

"What are your plans at this time?"

"Enjoy my time here and then get back to my battalion."

Liz was able to slip away after that; she had no idea at the very fine picture she made, the Uniform and Sabre and all her medals.

Getting back to the 160th and her responsibilities soon had Liz fully engaged; B company was coming home soon and A company of the 2nd Battalion was soon to replace them. The situation in Afghanistan continued to stabilize; the new president of Afghanistan seemed to be much more able to get things done; and the Army and security forces were steadily improving. The Taliban, finally showing some intelligence, were trying to negotiate. With that news, a meeting was held. Liz, the 160th Commander, and the SOCOM commanding general were in a meeting with intelligence weenies giving their best estimate of the situation. Liz was a little surprised that she was part of this meeting.

The SOCOM commanding general dismissed the intelligence officers and when the door closed looked at the 160th Commander.

"I have gotten the word from SECDEF that we are probably going to go along with the cease fire request that the President of Afghanistan has made. So I need to know what you think you will need there just to hold things rather than be on the offensive."

"Sir, we can cut our forces in half easily; if the Special Operations will be on a strictly defensive and react status. Compared to regular forces, we can be back pretty fast if the cease fire breaks down."

SOCCOM nodded then looked at Liz.

"You probably wonder why you were at this meeting."

"Yes sir."

"There has been a proposal put forth to have a worldwide reaction force that would include Super Apache's, DAP's, Little Birds, and Black Hawks. You will be part of the study group looking at this. They will be meeting at Campbell next month. Since there are few even in the Special Ops world that know what the Super Apache's can do, it will be up to you to show them. I wanted you to hear the intelligence so that you can factor that into the meetings."

Liz was thoughtful. "Sir, correct me if I am wrong, but I get the feeling that what is really wanted is for the Super Apache's to show that they should be the only attack helicopter paired with the Black Hawks for a simplified reaction force."

The 160th Commander smiled very slightly. The SOCOM commander slowly nodded.

"I was told you would probably figure it out early on. That is exactly that, Major. You will be expected to show that you can do anything the Little Birds and DAP's can do and do them better."

After the meeting Liz met with the 160th Commander privately.

"Just how political is this?"

"A fair amount. The price of the Super Apache's has been a sore point. Now their performance in Afghanistan has quieted that down a lot, but some is still there. Personally, I think the day of the DAP is gone for all intents and purposes. You could only carry a small number of personnel due to the extra weight of everything added to it. So having a dedicated attack helicopter and dedicated transport seems to me to be the most efficient way to go about things; most of the other senior commanders feel the same way. Now the situation with the Little Birds is different. They are so small and easily transportable that most feel it is a nice bonus to have around. However the small size of them and their limited range also works against them. You really cannot do much about the range situation. The times we have used them to take troops in it has been very hairy; and truly most of us feel that is stretching things too far. Putting them on benches outside the helicopter is an extreme situation I have never liked."

Liz nodded. "I can understand why it is tried; the Little Bird is so easily deployed. But bringing in forces that way; they are so vulnerable to any kind of ground fire."

"Yes they are. You should know that some have been looking at a pod that can carry four for use with the Super Apache."

Liz almost let her jaw drop open but managed to stop it just in time.

"My god. I had heard nothing about this at all."

"That is because so far it is only being talked about theoretically in the R & D areas."

"That is so stupid. They are still just as vulnerable and the amount of gear they can take is so minimal; I hope that is stamped on hard."

"I agree. Which is one reason you really need to show that you can do more than any other ship; and why a force of Super Apache's and Black Hawks make the most effective and efficient unit."

Liz had a lot to think about. The 2nd Battalion was almost ready for full standup; C Company would be coming home and it was looking more and more like only one company would be kept in Afghanistan as long as the cease fire held. Sam had gotten his promotion and was now the CO of the 2nd Battalion. But Liz was acknowledged as the head honcho of the Super Apache. It was up to her to lead the force.

One thing she had to look at was how to keep the force sharp if the deployments were that far apart. If only one company would be deployed, then that would mean as much as 18 months between deployments. That was a long time to try and keep pilots ready to go. Up to now, they had deployed much more often and that was not a real issue. But now for the Apache drivers it could be. Of course if they phased out the DAP's then there might be more of a need.

The situation with the dog and pony show that she knew was expected was not comfortable. Liz hated this sort of thing with a passion; having to prove the worth of the Super Apache not in combat but in some sort of theatrical production really grated on her. Yet she knew there really was no choice. So she brought in some of her more senior pilots to ask for suggestions.

"So there it is guys. We have to put on an air show that will prove that the Super Apache is the way to go. Now it is a given that the Little Birds and DAP guys will not want to cooperate by letting us show them up side by side. The Little Bird guys could beat us on maneuverability and deploy ability; but we own them on virtually any other basis. The DAP's only advantage over us is that they can carry troops; and they can claim that they can protect themselves about as good as we could protect regular Blackhawks. So really we have to show that overall we are the best bet. I need suggestions."

Slinger, Pug, Hannibal, Fireman were all at this meeting. She had also called in some of the Black Hawk people. They were on her side because they liked having the Super Apache as their escort.

Pug was first. "We need to show that as regards deployment time we can beat or at least match DAP. I think realistically we can show that DAP is not really a player. They only can really show an edge as regards bringing troops with them; but we can show that with Black Hawks we can deploy more faster with better protection. Now for small Special Ops missions, they have an edge. But that is a limited area."

Fireman decided to play the devil's advocate.

"But with the major conflicts winding down, they will make the claim that they will be doing more small missions rather than large assaults. Which is the place they have the edge. So we need to show that the difference would be minor at best."

Liz nodded. "I believe we need to attack their strong points; if we can show little advantage for them in the areas they claim they are strongest, then we will win. Since as regards large operations and heavily contested missions we clearly have the edge. But I think we need to do one of those as well so that the observers are reminded of that point."

So they began to flesh out ideas. They spent most of that day making plans. The whole show was going to be put on in one month.

Meanwhile Liz was still looking at how to keep the force ready to go; and the more she looked at it the more it seemed like an impossible task. Repetitive training after a while became automatic which was good in that it sharpened skills; but at the same time the brain turned off and went automatic too much; and that meant when the unexpected showed up you would be slow to recognize and react; and in modern war you were either quick or you were dead.

So she tabled that and went to some other things. She had requested to make some quick trips to Afghanistan to check on the companies there; C company was just about to come home and it had been decided that B company of the 2nd Battalion would wait until it was time for A to come home and just take over their birds. As had been the original plan when only one company was going to be deployed. It was granted and with C Company almost on the plane Liz flew into Bagram.

The decreased intensity of the situation was already apparent; forces were lowering and the NG brigade was about to leave and be replaced by some stray units, bits and pieces. She was glad to see the NG guys; in the nearly 3 months since she had left they had done a fine job, even if the pressure was much less.

The new officers were a little leery of her, and she could understand that. The Pilots and others of the Brigade that she had commanded had pretty much put her up on a pedestal and everyone else suffered in comparison. So she made sure that she did not step on any toes.

C Company was looking good; after some conversations with them she was satisfied, after reading the mission reports and talking to the units they had supported, that they had done well. The SF commander had been happy.

"Of course the situation was much easier, but they did a fine job."

Liz also checked into the A company people; but she was careful to not step on Sam's toes. He was stuck there for a while, but she was working on freeing him up. With only one company and the much less demanding situation, there really was no need for him to stay. Liz spent 3 days at Bagram and was very satisfied with what she found. As she made clear to the 160th commander.

"Things seem to be running smoothly; and I do recommend that Sam be brought home; no real reason for him to stay. A few days visit every month or so should be sufficient."

After getting back she waded back into the dog and pony show preparations.

It had been decided to make it a 4th of July show. To mask the actual reasons for it. The preparations had been taxing, to say the least. Liz had worked on some of the other units to help out; she wanted to show that they could deploy in C-130's if necessary. She remembered going to see some of the Hercules pilots about that.

They were a more loose type then hers were; so their greeting was not surprising.

"So, Doberman, come to take a bite out of us?"

"Looking for a phone book to sit on?"

"Come to see what real pilots with real aircraft look like?"

Liz grinned at them.

"Yes, I know I am slumming, coming to see you trash haulers."

The senior pilot there grinned at her.

"That is your story and you are sticking to it?"

"Ya. Actually I have just one question. Could you put one of my super Apache's in one of your ships?"

They looked a little surprised at that.

"Wow, not asking much are you? The rotors are too long."

"You take off the ones for the Little Birds so what is the problem?"

"Too high."

"With the rotors off you have 3 inches."

"Too long in the fuselage."

"Not mine; you have 6 inches."

"Too wide."

"You got a whole foot."

They all blinked at her ready answers. Then the senior pilot slowly nodded.

"OK, so far you are right. But I want one of our loadmasters to look at it."

"No problem. Send him on down."

First Sergeant Tom Bennett was there that afternoon looking at her Apache's. He talked to her crew chief and looked all around the bird. Finally he came to talk to Liz.

"We can do it."

With that Liz got her Battalion Sergeant Major Sid Winston to hand pick a crew to work on that. Liz intended to fly an Apache in; have the crew break it down and stuff into a C-130; have it take off and then land and pull it out and get it ready to fly. She knew if they could do this it would be a huge edge to show. She then talked to that crew.

"You know what we want to do; and that we want it done as fast as possible. I also want you to look at doing it with the minimum amount of support. In other words no fancy rotor stands and the like. Everything you use must fit in that C-130."

So they were dismissed from their regular duty and were given the rest of the time to the show to work on this exclusively. She had put the Sergeant Major in charge. And he worked them hard. She remembered when she had picked him.

It had been just after she had gotten A company up and running, not long before her deployment. She had lobbied for a Sergeant Major; telling the 160th commander that having a senior sergeant who would be able to over watch things could come in real handy for a unit that would often be split up. He had agreed and had come up with 3 candidates who were not in special operations. But had shown interest. Up to now they had not had any in Aviation. Sid had been the last one interviewed.

Sid Winston had 21 years in the Army; had started out in Infantry, had done a stint in Armor, then had gone into the 82nd Airborne where he had become a Sergeant Major only a year earlier. Unfortunately there were no slots available for the time being. He had served tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He was a pretty big guy, but clearly fit and ready. He had come into her office with as sharp a salute as Liz had seen; even when considering some of the British ceremonial troops she observed on occasion. Liz had stood up and returned it smartly.

"At ease and sit down. Sergeant Major. You know that you are one of three candidates for this position. Tell me why you should be the man."

"Major, I can only surmise why you want a Sergeant Major when no Aviation Battalion has had one before. You want one since you figure it will be quite often split up and that you need a senior sergeant keeping an eye on the parts you cannot. While I have not been in an aviation battalion before, in the 82nd we had lots of experience with helicopters in our operations. What a sergeant major does is not unit specific anyway; we ride herd on the enlisted and junior officers to make sure things are done right. We are the eyes and ears of the Commander to make sure she knows things that might not reach her through official channels or her chain of command. I want this position because I have no doubt it will be the finest Aviation Battalion in the US Army and that is what I want to be part of and be part of the reason it is the best."

His intense manor impressed her like the other two had not; she nodded.

"OK. Well you are it. When can you be here."

She managed to keep from smiling as that caught him off balance; he had not expected a decision this soon; but he recovered quickly; another plus.

"Major, I am surplus at this time so no reason to wait at all. I can be here in one week; my wife was halfway expecting a move and has been prepared. Our kids are grown and in college so that is not a factor."

"Good answer. Take your time; take two weeks and do it right. Longer if you need it. I will not deploy for another month; and that is when I will need you here keeping an eye on things for me."

With the arrival of C company at the beginning of June, the battalion was for once intact. And since they brought their Apache's home with them, they had all their birds as well. Liz's A company birds had been brought back with her due to the unlikelihood of needing them. So they had 24 Super Apache's for 1st Battalion of the 160th SOAR. Liz had been very flattered when the other battalions had been moved back in number for the Super Apache's. C Companies birds would be a week or so from being ready to fly. She had long talks with all the pilots and copilots as they came back, readying to sign off on their evaluations that Sam had sent.

Meanwhile the Sergeant Major had been riding herd on the special crew. And riding them hard. They were using a currently empty hanger for all this and it was kept secured; the men under very strict orders not to discuss this with anyone. So far as he could tell it had not gotten out. They had improvised some ways to support the rotors when being assembled or disassembled without using big clumsy stands or overhead cranes. Same with portable and collapsible ladders so that they could get men up to work on them. It had been a tight fit, but they had put together a frame that marked the exact size of the C-130J Hercules's cargo hold and practiced making sure everything fit. They had brought in one of the Loadmasters on it as well; he was very interested since he knew if this worked it would be happening for real soon enough.

In the air Liz had gotten the entire battalion together to practice their own part of the Dog and Pony show. It was very intricate and took some time to get it right; Liz first showed them a series of drawings of what they would be doing; then they slowly practiced it in the air; gradually speeding it up. It was very complicated and Liz began to get an idea on how to keep her battalion sharp in downtimes.

Finally the day of the show came. Liz had deliberately asked for the Super Apache's to come last and it had been granted.

There were several thousand spectators as well as some very high officials of SOCOM and also a certain Congressman. Liz had made sure to invite him.

She had to admit that the Little Birds put on a show of acrobatics that would have been impossible to match. Of course she could always try another barrel roll but that would not be smart.

The DAP's practiced an assault and shot up some targets; they looked pretty good. She smiled as she headed towards her bird.

The 24 Apache's appeared in a huge V formation; then split after passing the stands into their 3 companies. Then came together in a very tight formation in 6 boxes of 4 that were VERY close and flew at a good speed and then turned as one; then they split into their companies and very quickly spread out. Meanwhile on the ground a large number of targets were quickly set up. Then coming in from 3 directions at once, all spread out, they fired almost as one, in a huge display of firepower, destroying all the targets. Then they quickly formed the V formation and flew over the field, then Liz dropped out and in high speed landing came down not far from the viewing stands. At the same time the picked crew swarmed the bird, with the rotors still spinning but the engines shut down. Liz and Doug jumped out, each grabbing a refueling hose that would refuel the two auxiliary tanks from the fuel carts. Meanwhile the crew under the direction of the Sergeant Major, began to take off the rotors and the Longbow radar mast. Barely waiting until they stopped moving. In 30 minutes, 5 minutes faster than most of their times, they had the rotors off and the bird refueled and re-armed; Liz and Doug doing most of the rearming. As the rotors were just coming off, a C-130J came roaring in and landed and moved towards the Apache. The rear door opened and a crewman with a hook and cable ran to the front of the Apache attaching it to the hook that had been installed there. He signaled the plane and the hook began to draw the Apache towards the ramp that had just been dropped. Meanwhile the crew and Liz and Doug were carrying parts of the Apache and the stands and such into the Hercules. In 15 minutes they had it loaded and 5 minutes later it took off, circled the field and landed in a short space, simulating landing on a short strip. The rear opened and the tail of the Apache began to appear, pulled by ropes from most of the crew. In 5 minutes they had it out and had unloaded all their tools and such. The Hercules took off; and in 25 minutes more the rotors were on and Liz and Doug were doing a preflight; in 5 minutes they started it up and it took off and fired at newly built targets, blowing them all up; then Liz went up to take her place in the huge V formation of Apache's as it went over the field. In just over an hour and a half it had all been done. The crowd were standing and applauding.

The SOCCOM XO looked at the commander of the 160th and the congressman and remarked.

"I think Major Parker made her point."

Two days after the air show, Liz was informed of a high level meeting that would happen in the Pentagon that she would be attending. She got this notice from the 160th Commander, who would be going as well. She asked him if he knew what it was about.

"After the show you put on yesterday, I was expecting this. Just not as soon. I know you were following orders by making sure everyone got it about the Super Apache, but you have heard of the term 'unintended consequences'?"

"Yes sir."

"You just might have gotten yourself and your command on some lists you might have preferred to stay off of."

Liz got to thinking about that over the next few days, and none of the things she came up with gave her happy thoughts. First of course was getting loaned out to the Company; that was #1 with a bullet as far as she was concerned on the bad side of the ledger. Part of some kind of ready reaction force, she could possibly see that. And that might not be so bad as long as only one company was on it. Any more then it began to get ugly. Putting a company on that kind of roster once a month would be about the limit. If she remembered correctly, each time you were on that list, you had to never be more than an hour or so from your base, and you had to be able to get your unit uploaded on transports and moving within 24 hours. Your machines had to be absolutely ready to rock and roll right away.

Liz worked at finding the good things about getting a big rep; you would not get your budget cut. You would not get loaned out for little things; and you could expect to get solid support from above. Your unit knew they were special and could be worked hard to stay that way. Very few would want out, and you probably had a waiting list for getting in.

On the bad side was the pressure; you could never really relax. And if you screwed up the fall was a lot farther.

As was typical with Liz, she did not put too much thought into what this meant for her as regards her career. Or herself getting on certain lists.

She would have been shocked and rather worried had she known that the next week after the air show she was part of the subject of several meetings at high levels.

SOCCOM had his monthly meeting with his major command deputies; he tried to talk to them in person if possible and on teleconference if not. This one he had them all in the same room.

"I take it you have all heard the show that Major Parker put on with her Super Apache's?"

"I am guessing that no one warned her about looking TOO good and the possible if not probable consequences."

"I doubt it. But then from what I understood she was ordered to be impressive."

"She managed that."

"She certainly did. I am willing to bet no one thought you could get an Apache of any kind into a C-130."

"I certainly never thought you could. Which raises some interesting questions. I understand some of the upgrades of the Super Apache, but I am beginning to think that a lot of us were deliberately left in the dark about what they could mean. I did not know that they could take a full combat load and four auxiliary tanks at the same time."

"I think it is safe to say that the 160th might have been a little remiss in informing interested parties in the capabilities of the Super Apache."

"I think that reason was twofold; one to keep them to themselves, which is somewhat understandable. But now that both Afghanistan and Iraq are at the low intensity level, it is time to share the wealth."

"What was the other reason?"

"To make sure no one tried to pilfer Major Parker for their own reasons."

"Her accomplishments as both an aviator and leader have been impressive. Especially the way she seems to be able to take garbage units and transform them quickly."

"That is a rare ability; and she has done it three times in two very different areas."

"It is a gift one either has or does not have; it is not something that can be taught."

At another meeting of conventional officers, including aviators, the subject also came up at a focus meeting that had been called months ago. One of the items on the agenda was a new rapid reaction force that had been floated for some time.

"It is agreed then on the idea of further studying a new RRF. I think that the current force as it is configured is too big and too cumbersome."

"I agree. Takes too much transport and it is pretty much limited to areas that have large long concrete runways. Special Operations can respond with small forces but they are just that."

"Speaking of Special Operations, did all of you hear of the display they put on at Campbell?"

"Major Parker strikes again, I heard."

"Yes. Did anyone here know that you could get an Apache into a C-130?"

All parties shook their heads. One, a senior Air Force general, mused on that.

"I was totally surprised until I got the data on the Super Apache; the shorter tail is what made it possible. Past Apache's were just too long."

"What was also very interesting, as I heard from a few who were there, was that she had been flying it for at least an hour and it was hot; but they still got the rotors and the Longbow radar mast off and the bird inside the C-130 in just over half an hour."

"Of course that was with a picked crew who had been practicing, but that was still impressive."

One general asked a question several had.

"Just how much of an improvement is this super apache over the Longbow version? I have heard rumors but not much else."

"The 160th kept things very quiet on that project; many of us heard they were improving the Apache for special ops, but most of us figured it would be like the Black Hawks that they have turned into the DAP's and things like that. But now I hear that this is for all intents and purposes a new aircraft."

"Titanium frame and supports, and a new type at that; new engines and the capability to use the entire output of those engines; the fenestron tail; and avionics at least as advanced over the Long Bow as it was over the A model. Add to that the ability to have four Auxiliary tanks and a full combat load. Which increases its useful range immensely even without air refueling."

"But they are VERY expensive; I heard twice that of a Longbow."

"True. And with the new budgetary restraints it will be hard to get anymore. Especially with things so much quieter in Iraq and Afghanistan."

"So it is not likely that any more will be forthcoming, except as extras to keep the two current battalions up to strength."

"More than likely. Still I would submit that one battalion is more than enough for the 160th."

"That can probably be swung. But then who gets that extra battalion. You would have knife fights among every single regular aviation brigade in the Army."

"Clearly only the new RRF would have sufficient importance to get it."

"And probably the second battalion at that. SOCCOM and company would scream if anyone tried to steal Major Parker from them."

"But if this RRF is supposed to be the best force for immediate reaction; and requires officers capable of independent thought and flexibility, would that not warrant the best aviators as well?"

"You try that out and you better have someone else start your car every morning. Special ops types tend to be very territorial."

At still another meeting of Naval and Marine officers, another point of view was heard. The Marine General, as usual outnumbered among the Navy Admirals, spoke up.

"Coming from an old fashioned ground pounder, we still need better close fire support then we do have now. Ships no longer have guns worth mentioning, and close air support is still too inaccurate at times. Not to mention the response unless you have a full time CAP is too slow. Artillery is always the last to show up and its limited range is a pain as well."

"You got your AH-1Z's, what more do you want?"

"They are great birds; but they cannot deliver the ordnance the Apache can; and the new Super Apache can deliver more at three times the range and stay around just as long. And the 20MM is just too weak anymore."

"And it costs more than twice as much as well. With the budget situation as it is, you have very little chance of getting any now."

"The 160th does not need two battalions."

"Tell the truth General, do you want the Super Apache's or Major Parker?"

"Both, Admiral. Major Parker should have been a Marine."

Liz had been contemplating how to keep her Battalion and the other one sharp; and the rehearsals for the air show had given her ideas. She began to draw up formations and scenarios that would test them and make them work hard; she pushed for as much live fire practice as she could get. As for the ground crews, she began to hold competitions with leave and other carrots dangled in front of them. The fastest crew to rearm; the crew with the highest operational rate.

Her Sergeant Major was also busy; he was constantly prowling the hangers and operations buildings looking for mistakes and laziness and anything that was not right. As Liz held a gripe session for the officers every month, he held one for the enlisted men. And Liz made it clear to everyone that she took what he told her as the gospel. This had the effect of letting everyone know that they could talk to him and it would get right to her off the record.

In August came the word that with the Taliban cease fire still holding, that A company would not be replaced. So the entire first and second battalions would be together at Campbell, in September. Liz also got the word that her promotion to Lt Colonel would come by the end of the year. She had very mixed feelings about that; she knew that there would be more and more pressure to take her out of the cockpit of her Apache. And she did not know if she could remain in the military if that happened. At the same time her appointed career advisor had a meeting with her. He was a full colonel and a former aviator as well.

Colonel Williams was not sure how to talk to Major (soon to be Lt Colonel) Parker. Her career was unique in the military. For all intents and purposes the first female true warrior. More high decorations than any officer since Vietnam. A truly superb officer that had not had one single evaluation less than outstanding. And yet the pressure was still there to have her start taking college courses and working towards a degree; completely idiotic. No promotion board would dare pass over her; their own careers would suffer from the backlash. Yet some dumb gomers insisted that no matter what their career, they had to be taking college courses and going for a degree, then a masters. It did not matter what it was in either. Despite claims made to the contrary; you only had to look at all the business administration degrees and such to know they made very little difference in how an officer did his job. It was all about ticket punching; something Colonel Williams hated with a passion. Elizabeth Parker did not have to worry about that making any difference for a while; He had no doubt that in two years at most, she would have her birds. But after that it would make a difference, even with the new extra promotion board. He consoled himself with the thought that by that time he would be retired. He also hoped he was right in his estimation that getting promoted meant very little to her.

"Major Parker, I am frankly honored to by your career advisor."

"Thank you, Colonel Williams. I am guessing that one of the things you want to talk to me about is taking college courses towards a degree."

"The pressure is still on that area, Major, even if it is not as intense as it was a few years ago. The Alternative Promotion board has made some waves. And the backlash is growing against forcing officers to take years out of their careers for useless college degrees."

Liz raised her eyebrow at that. "You are a very rare officer, sir, to be willing to speak what many might think but are afraid to utter."

"I am retiring in less than two years no matter what. So I can afford to say what was previously forbidden. I do want you to consider applying for Command Staff college at some time. That is of course if you are interested in that route."

Liz sat back for a minute and considered. Then deciding that since he had been honest with her she would be honest with him.

"Desk command does not interest me. And above the rank of Lt Colonel that will almost certainly be my fate. I am a pilot; a command pilot. I say that with pride and the humility that I have also been very lucky. But I honestly do not see myself lasting much longer once they pry me out of my Apache. A year or two at most and then I will be gone. So at this time I have now 12 years in the military; I truly do not see how I could last to 20. I know I have at most another year or so flying; and then at most a year or two after that. At best I am looking at 16 and then gone. I do not have to worry about a second career; I know that with my reputation I will be able to find a flying job outside the military. And it is much more important to me that I feel challenged and productive than get useless promotions. I do not see how I feel that way behind a desk. And that is where inevitably my career leads."

He sat for a moment contemplating his response; then decided to just put it out there.

"That is pretty much it for me; I was pried out of my Black Hawk 6 years ago. I chose to stay in to get my 20. But I cannot honestly say that I have not done much since then that was really useful or productive to my way of thinking. I have had good postings; have commanded a Battalion and then XO of a brigade. Then I was moved to this position. The Battalion command was the last one I really felt productive; XO was a paper pushing position that I almost drowned in. That is pretty much what this is in too many ways. Way too many of the officers that I advise I would like to tell them to get out and do not let the doorknob hit your ass on the way out. Cookie cutter staff and desk weenies. Then an officer like you comes along; I can honestly say that none of my other charges have anywhere near your accomplishments or potential. And I say potential advisedly."

Liz looked at him calmly. "You are talking command positions and staying in and going for my stars."

"Yes. Major, you are the first woman that I can see going all the way up the command positions. You have been tremendously successful at Company and Battalion command; and your exploits resuscitating bad units is remarkable. It takes a real touch to do what you have done 3 times. Brigade command is not far off; you were an extremely successful XO of a brigade and it is well known that for all intents and purposes you did command that NG brigade. After that and some courses at Command School, I have absolutely no doubt you will have a star on your shoulder before you are 35. Stay with it and I can see the day when you just might be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 20 years. Maybe less. I see that in your future. And further you are the kind of commander this Army desperately needs."

Liz sat back, somewhat dazed and incredulous. She could tell he was serious.

"Wow. Pretty heady stuff for someone that joined right out of high school just to make some money to go to college someday. Things just seemed to fall into place. My guardian angel works overtime for sure. Part of what you said scares me a little – I might actually buy into it and start playing the promotion game. And frankly my thoughts on making it to high command are not pleasant. You say I could make a difference; but I really wonder. I question what difference one officer can make. I have studied some military history over the years; my personal favorites are the Civil War and WW2. Back then one officer could make a big difference; imagine the Union Army without Grant; our army in WW2 without Marshal. Or Sherman and Patton and so on. But now I seriously question what one officer or a few can do anymore in this military. Now outside of bad differences like Westmoreland made, what difference can even a few superior officers make? I look at Desert Storm; we had a great combination there in Powel at Chief of the Joint Staff and Swartzkopf at CENTCOM. In many ways the best we had since Marshal and Eisenhower. But what did they accomplish in the end? Iraq festered; the great military we had in 1991 dwindled and became the Stepford military of today as regards the senior levels."

"I think I can counter with Petraeus."

Liz nodded. "I can give you that. But did he really make all that much difference? The Surge in Iraq had already been suggested; his tactics were really nothing new. Afghanistan, it was more the case of us wearing down the Taliban and the steady building of the Afghan government. Both tactics that had been tacitly acknowledged. As someone who was there while it was happening, I did not see much that showed the higher command were doing anything that really mattered."

He sat back and sighed. It was really hard trying to counter the same thoughts he had had over the last few years as regards their current wars. He had seen very little sign of any brilliance in leadership. A steady wearing down of the enemy; a war of attrition. That was what had gotten it done. And was that more the case of the political leadership being stubborn enough that it finally got results? Rather than any real leadership from anyone in the military?

Liz saw that he was truly conflicted; trying to do what he thought was right vs what he really thought the Army needed. She was very flattered that he thought she had the potential to go that high; but as she contemplated the price she would pay for trying, she had her doubts it would be worth it. If she kept at her current pace, she would be out of the military in 5 years at most. She and Max could easily have more children; have a big family if she wanted. She knew she could write her autobiography and make enough money so that they could do as they wished. Max had a huge wad in the bank; and she had a pretty good pile as well. Between that and the book they would probably be financially set for life. Allowing them so much freedom to raise Aliya and James and other children exactly as they wished. Freedom that very few people had. But she would have to make a decision in the next year or two as to which way to go. She looked at the Colonel.

"Thank you for your honesty and confidence in me. You have given me a lot to think about."

"Thank You Major for making this day one that I will cherish. Good luck to you and anything you need let me know. I would consider it an honor to help you."

When she had left he sat thinking for a long time before telling his secretary he was gone for the day. One of the perks of this position. He had made certain that there would be no further appointments that day. He went home and sat thinking for some time before his wife came in; she was a volunteer at the local military daycare.

She knew right away something was up; she had known him for a couple years before they married; and 20 years of marriage had helped her understand him. He had been in ROTC at college when they had met and married. They had had their kids before he started his active duty. He had had a very good career; and she had no regrets. But today she could see he had some.

"Well come on, spit it out. Today made you do some thinking and a fair amount of it was not good. So tell me."

He smiled at her; she really did know him so well.

"I told you that one of the officers I had been assigned to career council was Major Elizabeth Parker. Today I met her; and I was just as impressed in person as her file and everything you have seen and read had led me to believe I would be. We had a very frank talk. And I tried to convince her to at least play the game enough for her to get to Command rank. I did it because I feel the Army badly needs officers like her. I told her, and I really believe it, that she could someday become the first female Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. She told me why she really did not want to; and it echoed so many of my own thoughts. About the cookie cutter military we now have; and the dearth of real leadership. Which she has in spades. This is the first time I was in the room with an officer that you could just feel it; she is an extra ordinary officer that the Army so badly needs. Yet the price she might have to pay to reach the level where she could really change things is so high; and her point that what could one or even a few officers really accomplish was dead on. I cannot honestly say that she is wrong. And yet here I was trying to get her to play the game; one she has totally ignored for all intents and purposes. I left my office and I felt dirty."

She sighed and cuddled closer to him.

"You make a point of doing what you think best most of the time. And right now your current position has you trying to do justice to the position while not selling out your soul. If you really believe that the army needs her then you did the right thing. You gave her the options and the reasons. It is up to her. She will make the decision. I know you; you gave her both sides and your own feelings; that is as good as you can do."

Liz took a day's leave to attend a retirement party at Ft Carson. Sergeant Axton was pulling the pin. When informed of this in an email- they still corresponded- she told him she would be coming to his retirement ceremony as well. She met him the night before at his party and talked for a while.

"Well you sure did hold to your schedule; just like you told me at Stewart 6 years ago."

"Saw no reason to change it; especially now with major combat over. And look at you; steadily heading up the ladder and kicking ass all the time. I saw the potential you had that first day; and I am glad to have seen it start to come true. 20 years from now I am going to be able to sit at the local VFW or whatever and tell the guys I was the one that was her first sergeant when she was just a private."

Liz nodded and then decided to confide in him; he had given her very good advice once upon a time.

"Saw my career advisor today; a colonel who was in aviation and I bet a very good one. He was blunt and honest; said if I played the game a little I could one day be the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. And he was serious. I have not planned to stay in more than a year or so after they pry me out of my cockpit. But what he said; and what he meant was that the army needed me; has made me think about it. You gave me good advice once so I would like to hear some more."

He sat and thought for a couple of minutes. He was incredibly proud of what she had accomplished and become; and the fact that he had had a hand in it was one of the highlights of his military career. She trusted him to tell the truth; and he was going to do just that.

"Play the game as much as you can do without feeling like you are selling out. Draw a line and if you have to cross it to advance walk away. He is absolutely right that the Army badly needs leaders like you. And I know you well enough to figure that you would have feelings like you had quit if you did not try."

She slowly nodded. "My objection was that I did not really think I could make that much of a difference staying in and playing the game. That I would sell out and in the end not accomplish anything worth that."

"That is why I say draw a line. You do that and you can walk away before selling out. I have confidence in you; you will not do that; you will not fall in love with the power and the perks and everything else. You will walk away if it is the right thing to do for you. And I think that one person can make a difference; you already have. And I believe you will again."

That next day she stood with his family and others as he officially retired. She noticed but ignored some of the looks she got as she was recognized. His wife talked to her a bit.

"He talked about you that first day -9/11. Said he thought you might have a real future if you could stand the BS. He is so proud he was the first Sergeant you had. I am glad to have met you. And good luck to you, the Army does need you."

Liz was very thoughtful on her flight back to Campbell. Later that evening after James and Aliya were in bed, she felt it was time to talk to Max.

"Max, my career counselor basically said I could end up as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff one day if I was willing to play the game some. Sergeant Axton pretty much said the same. I am really thinking about it; despite what I have been saying and planning. Despite what we had pretty much agreed on."

Max held her closer. "Liz, not only do I love you, I admire you. Both as a person and as an officer. You are a real hero in anyone's book. And as long as it is a decision you feel you need to make, I will support you. I will be there right beside you. Because you are the finest person I have ever met; and the best officer as well. And I love you."

Then they made love and Liz slept very peacefully. She knew the decision she had to make.

Liz had taken a week's leave besides going to Sergeant Axton's retirement ceremony. She knew she had some thinking to do. So she spent time at home, with Max (who also took leave) and Aliya and James. Just being there and with them. She and the rest of her family went to the Saturday get together with the Posse and the Crew.

With the pressure of deployments in the past, they were much more relaxed now. The Crew were starting on their families; all three were pregnant if at various stages. Jesse was at 7 months, Vicki was at 5, and Ellen was at 3. They appeared much happier than she had ever seen them. The Posse was also very relaxed.

As usual it was Susan who brought it up.

"So, Liz, why do I have the feeling you got something on your mind?"

"Am I that obvious?"

"You sent Max off to draw the men out of hearing; and got Aliya to pull the girls away as well. It was not totally obvious except to someone that knew you."

Liz sighed. "I went to my career counselor a few days ago. A Colonel Williams; he was in aviation. A Black Hawk driver. I liked him and I think he was not peddling anything. He only has a year or so to retirement anyway. So I doubt he had a reason to polish the apple. He flat out told me that I would make general; and that he would be surprised if I did NOT one day reach the level of Chief of Staff or even Chairman. He pointed out that I had already commanded Companies and Battalions in combat; and was XO of a brigade but was for all intents and purposes running it. I will be a Lt Colonel by the end of the year. With my record, he said that a man with it at my age would be on the fast track to stars. If I was willing to attend the Command School in a year or two that would seal it. Even without a college degree. The new Alternative Promotion Board was right up my alley if the regular one balked due to no degree. I have already punched my joint service ticket in Afghanistan working with foreign military. Basically I would be the poster girl for women in the Military and the Powers that Be would want me to make it. Sergeant Axton told me the same thing. Others have as well. My plans were to fly as long as I could then find a flying job outside the military. But him talking this way; and others I respect saying the same thing, make me wonder if I have the responsibility to myself to go as far as I can. So there it is guys."

The 6 women looked at each other then at Liz. Ellen seemed to speak for them all.

"Go for It Liz; god knows the military needs more officers like you."

Max brought the others back and sat next to Liz. "I told them as well."

Liz looked at them. "What do you guys think?"

Richard looked at her. "I would transfer in to any unit you commanded no matter what it was or where it was going. We all feel the same. And do you know how many officers I have met I would say the same? None."

They all nodded at her. Liz sighed.

Liz took the last couple days of her leave to visit Maria and her old friends.

Maria already had two children and was 'working' on a third. Tess and Isabelle had each had two and seemed to think that was enough. Maria was aiming at five or six. Liz sat with her oldest and closest friends and just relaxed. The Crew and the Posse were also good friends, and had been a lot more with Liz over the last 6 years, but these three would always be her oldest best buds. So she wanted to talk to them as well on this.

"So there it is. Colonel Williams might have been exaggerating, but I do think he was being totally honest at his evaluation. You all knew Sergeant Axton; he just retired and I made it to his retirement party and ceremony. I talked to him and he completely agreed with the colonel. So I need you guys input as well."

The three women looked at each other then Tess and Isabelle looked at Maria, who sighed.

Liz looked at them in puzzlement. "What?"

Maria sighed.

"We were kind of talking about this a few months ago. Right after you got your 'Knightress' title. We were musing on just how high you could go. Tess thought you could probably make general. Isabelle agreed and said that at least. I was kind of joking and said Chairman."

Liz sat back and thought about that.

"And you really were not joking were you?" looking at Maria.

Maria was looking down then she looked up and at Liz right in the eye.

"No, chica. I think you can make it there. What worries me is the price you might have to pay to get there."

"That really is the whole crux of the matter. What price am I willing to pay and will trying to get there turn me into what I really despise?"

Tess and Isabelle shook their heads vigorously. Tess spoke first.

"No, Liz, you will not change. You will not become an empty suit."

Isabelle agreed. "Not going to happen."

Maria smiled if slightly. "That is not what we are worried about, Liz. What we are worried about is how much you will have to put up with to get there; how much shit you might have to shovel. What that might do to you over the years. Making you hard and distant. Taking away the Liz we know and love."

Liz slowly nodded. "That is what I am worried about as well. I don't want to become a part time mom, so wrapped up in my career that I neglect my family. And I can see how that could happen over the years. Sergeant Axton suggested I draw a line in the sand that I will not cross and if I have to I pull the pin. I can do that in my professional life. But how do I do that in my personal life?"

With that she got a group hug and they all just held her. There really was no clear answer to that.

Still it was a wonderful trip to see her old friends. The last stage was to Columbus to see her mother. Nancy and Ted had settled down and appeared quite happy. Liz loved seeing her mother happy. They just visited and talked.

Finally that evening Nancy gazed at her daughter. Liz was in jeans and a T Shirt; she looked like she was in her early twenties instead of 30. She had her shoes off and was curled up on the sofa next to Nancy; Ted was in the easy chair.

"OK, honey, it is time you told me why you are here. I love to see you; but since you told me you just spent a couple of days with Maria and the others before you came here, I have a hunch there is something up."

Liz nodded. "I have been talking to all my friends, my good friends, looking for input and advice. The Crew, the Posse, Maria, Tess, Isabelle."

Nancy blinked. "Honey, just say it. I know it has to be big."

"Last week I had a meeting with my career counselor at the Pentagon. They are designated for officers that reach field rank, Major and above. He told me that in a month or two my promotion to Lt Colonel will be coming down. Which was not unexpected. What he told me next was. He flat out informed me that since I had commanded Companies and a Battalion in combat; and had been XO of A brigade in combat but that it was well known I was in operational control, that I was sure to make general. And If I went to the Command Staff College for a year or so, I had a very good chance to one day end up as Chief of Staff or even Chairman. I am now one of the favored few."

Nancy took a deep breath then slowly let it out.

"You told me that you wanted to stay in until they put you behind a desk then you were going to get out and find a flying job in the civilian world."

"That has been my plan. But now I wonder if I have a responsibility to myself and to the military to go as far as I can."

"Honey, your responsibility is to yourself and your family. Not to the Army or anything else."

Ted had been silent then he spoke.

"I never served; I was lucky enough to be born late enough to miss the draft. So I went to college and eventually ended up working for the state at their DOT. It has been a good job but that is all. My first marriage blew up; but now I am very happy to be with Nancy. I am proud to be your step father. But more than that I am proud to know you. Take this from someone who has not been in; but knows quite a few that have. They have all said over the years how few really good officers are. You are a great officer from all accounts everywhere. But in the end it is more important how you feel about it than anyone else. What do you want to do?"

"I am not certain; but honestly I am starting to move towards at least trying to stay in and play the game a little."

"Play the game?"

"The military is HUGE on having a degree. Does not matter what it is in; Art Appreciation, whatever, as long as it is a degree. Now that is stupid but it is the system; at least until recently. Then the Army came up with the Alternate Promotion Board that specifically looks at officers passed over. Now the other services are being pushed to do the same. They do not care if you had a degree or not or did not have a checkmark on the list the regular promotion board uses. They only care if you are a good officer. That has started to spread, so I will no longer need a Masters in Shakespeare' Plays or the like to reach General. If I go to the Command Staff College for a year or so that will be enough. I have to decide whether or not to start down that road."

He nodded. "Some of the dumbest people I have ever met had college degrees. No common sense at all but they had that diploma. I guess it is not surprising that the Military thinks the same way as most of the business world and elsewhere."

Liz got home and found that Max and Aliya and James were all out for a time in the park; so she had some time on her own. She sat in the living room and lay back and thought about it.

The more she thought about it the more she realized that she did not want to quit the military if she could still get things done. It was not about flying as much as it had been for years. She decided. Play the game for a while until it got too much then she would leave. That was how to go about it. She would not sell her soul for general's stars.

Liz finally relaxed as the decision was made.

Liz went back to the base the next day and hit the ground running. She had both battalions up and flying and shooting. She had Sam start working his battalion just as hard as she was; and challenged him to show his battalion was just as good. Thus became the competition. It steadily grew over the period of weeks. 2nd Battalions B company was coming back early as there frankly was just not a need. The US overall presence in Afghanistan was steadily shrinking, and the Iraq presence was down to two brigades. She went to a meeting with the SOCOM commander and the 160th Commander about this.

SOCOM was blunt in that the presence of SF would be reduced significantly as well. However he pointed out that worldwide they would still be looking and hunting for Al Queeda. It had been confirmed that Osama Ben Laden had finally succumbed to his kidney disease, and Al Queeda had pretty much disintegrated into component parts that only had concerns with their own country and nothing else. But the mission of hunting terrorists would go on. The remaking of the ISI which had been greatly helped by the deaths of two of its veteran leaders, had stripped the Taliban of much of its support. Iran was now considered the chief troublemaker, but since they were usually very careful to go with third parties, there was not much they could do about it at this time.

Liz and the 160th Commander had a long talk.

"I just got the word that your promotion will be effective as of 1 September. And with that I am going to appoint you the 160th XO when Colonel James leaves in November. Now frankly I want you to stay in your Apache because you are just flat out that good. So what is also in the wings is that there will be a new regiment; the 161st. Each regiment will have one battalion of Super Apache's and Attack Little Birds; One composite battalion of Black Hawks and Little Birds; and then one battalion of Black Hawks and Chinooks. The Battalion makes ups will be as such: Apache Battalion plus one Company of Attack Little Birds; One battalion of One company of Black Hawks and two companies of Chinooks; and then One battalion of One company of Little Birds plus one company of Black Hawks plus one company of Chinooks. We are adding one company of Attack Little Birds, One Company of Little Birds. We are leaving Hunter and putting all our forces here and in Washington. This will happen late next year. Frankly the plan is to give you command of the 161st."

Liz blinked and nodded. "So this means moving to Washington."

"Yes."

Liz sat back and thought about that. So many friends here at Campbell; and Maria and the others not far away. That would all change. She sighed.

"I have grown so comfortable here. It will be hard to leave."

"Well this is still in the planning stages so something might change. But it is a given that we will expand and split into two units. The eastern 160th will have Europe and the Middle East and Africa. The 161st will have South America, Oceania, and the East, which means Asia. Frankly there has been talk of Stationing the 160th at Ramstein. It would make it a lot easier to stage from there to the Middle East and Africa. But that is up in the air. Does make sense but I would doubt it. Won't matter to me since with my next promotion I move up to SOCOM Aviation commander."

"Congratulations, Sir."

"I guess. More paperwork and no flying at all. Here At least I can do a little."

Liz went home that night and talked to Max.

"They are expanding the SOAR into two regiments. They will be standing up a new one, the 161st. I will be XO of the 160th until it stands up and then I get command of it. It will be stationed in Washington, split between McCord and Lewis. So that means we move out west to the Coast. Cooler and wetter. And a long way from most of our friends as well."

Max nodded.

"That will be hard on you."

"Yeah. But I have been spoiled. Benning to Stewart to Rucker to Campbell. Not much of a move really."

"Not counting your deployments of course."

"Of course. But I have been so lucky that I have remained close to my friends through it all."

Liz shook it off and went back to making sure her battalions were staying sharp. Sam had risen to the challenge and was putting together drills and scenarios that would push his battalion to match Liz's.

Some good news arrived in that spare Super Apache's were being built; some for test and some for replacements for the inevitable losses. Liz asked about the tests and was told that they were trying some of the things that had been done with Little Birds. Which meant trying to find a way to carry passengers. Liz did not think much of this; Little Birds did this but for short distances; which was good since the troopers were exposed to everything and just strapped to a bench installed on the small stub wings of the Little Bird. If they were trying this with super apache's then they were thinking of trying longer distances. This just did not sound like a good idea. But there was nothing she could do about it so she tried to put it from her mind.

On 1 September she officially got her promotion to Lt Colonel and was made the XO of the 160th SOAR as Colonel James was able to escape early for his own aviation brigade with the 1st ID. One good thing was they had added enough staff weenies to do most of the paperwork so Liz determinedly held onto her Super Apache; even when she officially gave up A company to Slinger. One of the spare Apache's was staked out as her personal bird. She took on spare Copilots to give them some flight time. What she did then was then force each company in turn to try and follow the leader as she led them on chases and runs. Then she would order them into attacks and throw last minute wrinkles at them to try and shake them up. She got very creative and since she was flying too she was right on top of them.

The SOCOM deputy came by during one of those training flights and watched from a black hawk a little distance away. After observing this for a while, he asked the 160th commander.

"She really does have a nasty streak. I think these guys might look forward to a combat deployment just to get away from her."

"She challenges them constantly. Always thinking up something different. Never gives them a chance to get complacent. She is by far the toughest training officer I have had."

One thing that puzzled Liz some was that there seemed to be no applicants from any women that wanted to become Super Apache drivers. After double checking to make sure there were none, she went and talked to the Crew. Jesse had started her maternity leave and Vicki would not be far behind, and they were all desk bound so she was able to find them easily. One not so good thing about her promotion to Lt Colonel and her reputation was that it was virtually impossible for her to slip in anywhere without someone noticing and calling all present to attention. But on this occasion she was able to do it and made it to the office that had several cubicles that the Crew inhabited. Vicki saw her first as she slipped into the room.

"Liz! How did you sneak in here?"

"I have my ways. It is getting harder and harder though."

"Well of course it is. Not only a colonel now but a famous one. Scares the crap out of most people."

Ellen nodded. "Everyone is always on the lookout for Brass and now you qualify."

"That sucks but I guess that is the way it is. Listen guys I have a question: what do you know about why no women have applied to become Super Apache drivers?"

Vicki and Ellen looked at each other and burst out laughing. Liz crossed her arms and pouted.

"Guys. Need to hear the joke."

Vicki grinned. "Liz, sometimes you are so oblivious. Think about it: ONE-just how many women try and become Apache drivers? Very few. The ones that do are having all they can to just fly the regular ones. Then when they get some time there, most of them get promoted fairly quickly. So they are not flying much longer. TWO- girl, we love you but sometimes you are dense. It is very much the last bastion of the male Neanderthal, probably just like it was in the Air Force and with fighter pilots. So it is not very friendly. You just proceeded to bull your way in and ran them over. Not someone that comes along very often. You loved the Apache because of how it flew and what you could do with it. Once again the number of women like that are also very few. THREE- there are only two battalions in the whole world. The competition to get there is intense and only the more senior Apache drivers have a shot; FOUR- you have to go to the 160th SOAR which few MALE pilots want to do, and so far you are STILL the only one in the entire regiment, right? And lastly – it would take a real egomaniac to want to come to the place that you have staked out and try and compete with the image and record you have put up. The 160th has a real tight process for weeding out that kind of flyer. So there you are."

Liz blinked and looked at Ellen, who nodded.

"All in all, Liz, it would be a surprise to us if you got many applications from female pilots at all, let alone for the Super Apache."

Liz went and talked to her female friends in the 160th who told her basically the same. She then went to the commander.

"Sir, from what I have gathered very few women apply for the 160th, and many that do are turned down. So far I am still the only female pilot. Or even copilot. I think that needs to change at least some."

He nodded. "I have gotten some prodding from upstairs on that. You are so well known that many have not twigged on the fact that no one else is here flying anything. I think some recruiting is necessary. And guess who gets to do it?"

"Aw, nuts."

But orders were orders so Liz went and talked to the crew and asked if anyone they knew was interested and to get out the word. Then she went and poked at SOCOM to have all the female helicopter pilots in the army sent a message from her. That took a while to get authorized for some reason, but it finally did at the beginning of October.

She was a little shocked that the number was as small as it was. There were less than 100 female pilots and copilots in the Army helicopter program. She was sad to note that only 6 others were Apache pilots. Most were Black Hawks, but some were Chinooks and a couple were Kiowa's. The copilots were pretty much the same, but only two were Apache copilots. Liz made a video with help from the intelligence guys and sent it to every one of them.

Liz had debated how to do this and then decided to make it a challenge.

"Are you good enough? Only the best fly with us. Can you make it?"

Then it showed them what they would have to go through to make it. The much tougher SERE, and all the rest. Then some footage of the 160th in action. Then it ended up with Liz standing next to her Super Apache.

"Are you tough enough and good enough?"

Some of the staff weenies thought she over did it. But the commander just smiled.

"She challenged all of them. Then showed how tough it would be. That is fair and honest. If someone squawks let them."

Liz got some enquires about it; and she did end up with 7 looking to get to fly with them. And some others showing interest for later on. She was somewhat satisfied. As it turned out 5 of the 7 put in their applications, and eventually 3 of them made it as pilots of Black Hawks. But still no more Apache pilots. There were a few Chinook pilots that looked interested. She was a little surprised that no copilots took a shot. After a couple of months she went to the commander.

"I guess maybe you need to get someone else; does not look like I did very well."

"On the contrary, you did better than I thought. We will get some now and more in the future. Just have to be patient."

The crew was very amused by her video; pointing out that her 'Doberman' logo on her bird was very vicious looking.

"Gee, Liz, you are going to scare them off."

Liz kept working her battalions hard; and then started to pull the rest of the 160th in on it; pushing them to fly with the Super Apache's. She made some of the scenario's very hard; and threw last minute wrinkles into them. The Little Bird pilots, she noticed, seemed to be able to respond better. So she talked to some of them and found that they had done so much weird stuff in Special Ops that they were naturally more flexible. But they admitted she had come up with some doozies. And were looking forward to more.

Some of the other pilots were not so happy; even going so far as to complain to their Battalion commanders; who felt they needed to voice this to the 160th Commander. His reply was short.

"Tell them to suck it up. As tough as she has been, no one has been shooting at them. I am willing to bet these complaints came from those who have not been in a combat situation?"

When the admission came back that he was correct, he waved off the complaints by telling them to inform the pilots if it was too hard for them they could ask for a transfer that would be immediately approved.

The SOCOM aviation commander had heard some rumblings and had talked to him as well.

"I hear some are complaining about Colonel Parker's tough training regimen."

"That is correct sir and I told their commanders to inform them that any transfer requests would be signed immediately. That seemed to shut them up."

Another incident was to come up before the holidays. The Battalion from Mccord-Lewis came for an exercise against the units at Ft Campbell. Liz designed a fairly hairy scenario that really pushed the Battalion to the max; then put them up against 3rd Battalion in a fly off. They did not do well at either and the Battalion commander filed a formal complaint against Liz for being unfair.

Liz was informed of this by the 160th Commander and told to not talk to anyone and go home. Liz did so but was fuming and growling so Max told her that she needed to calm down or the kids would get scared. She managed to cool down enough that evening but was still pissed off.

The 160th Commander had been able to get Liz to go home; but he was very quietly furious with the Battalion commander for this. 160th settled things internally; they did not go outside. He called in the SOCOM Aviation commander to come down and settle it.

He did not waste time. He pulled the battalion commander in and sat him down.

"Major, what you are saying in this complaint is that Colonel Parker unfairly treated your battalion. Now how did she do that? The Scenario she gave your battalion was easier than the ones she has been training the others on. And in the flyoff your Battalion just did not get it done. I have looked over your training records and your battalion has done considerably less over the last 3 months than normal. I am going to be brutally honest, Major. Your complaint will be rejected and you will be relieved of command for not keeping your people properly trained. So you now have a choice: ask for a transfer or be relieved of command."

Needless to say the transfer request was placed and immediately signed. The Battalion was kept at Campbell for an extra month for remedial training.

Liz found herself putting that battalion through the grinder, using the other battalions at Campbell as the Drill Sergeants. But in 30 days they responded to her scenario well and tied the same battalion that had beaten them badly in a flyoff.

SOCOM spoke after that to his Aviation Commander.

"How did that battalion get that soft?"

"Sir, for one reason or another they had not had many missions for a while; and the Battalion commander went light on their training. The 160th Commander admits he should have been keeping better track of them but it is hard when the unit is that far away."

"The Battalion in Georgia had no trouble with Colonel Parkers training."

"They had come up for a 30 day portion of her training; they did not do all that well the first few times but built up and were fine at the end. But then again it was also easy to get them to Campbell. Or for Colonel Parker to fly her Apache there and work them over. But it is another story for a Battalion on the West coast. And the battalion in Georgia had asked to be included. The one out west did not."

"That needs to change."

"It already has. The 160th Commander has made it a regimental order that all the battalions face off at least twice a year from now on."

"Good. But this situation underscores the problem with having that battalion hanging out by itself."

"Yes sir. But if the reorganization goes as planned that will not be the case anymore."

SOCOM just nodded. He did not tell the Aviation Commander that there were some rumblings going on that might change what was supposedly all established as regards the formation of the 161st.

Those rumblings started to materialize in a meeting early in February.

The Chief of Army Aviation, the Chief of Staff of the Army, SOCOM and their deputies had a meeting that was supposedly to make final decisions but instead showed that there had been some input from some unexpected sources.

SECDEF and the Chairman and USAEUR had had their own meeting just before and their meeting definitely shook things up. That came after a meeting with the President.

The Chief of Staff spoke to the others.

"This came from above. Now this was supposedly an Army matter but it is not any longer. You are all aware of the problems in Europe; the prolonged economic problems and the debt mess from Spain and Italy and Ireland and the rest. The EURO almost collapsing; and the increasing problem of radical muslims in Europe; not to mention the way Russia keeps stirring the pot. The CIA and NSA have forwarded a SNIE that is not pleasant reading. Things have still not really settled down in the Middle East. The bottom line is that we need more Special Ops forces in Europe. So the proposal on the table is that when the 161st is stood up it be based in either England or Ramstein. And be tasked with the responsibility for Europe and the Middle East and Africa. The 160th in Campbell then be assigned everything else; the Western Hemisphere, the Pacific and Asia. Now the question becomes who gets Afghanistan. Practically speaking I think that should also belong to the 161st."

SOCOM frowned. "That would mean that basically all the hot spots except for the Phillipines Indonesia area and parts of South America are all on the 161st. That makes things kind of lop sided."

SOCOM Aviation shook his head. "That is true but the 160th would be covering such a huge area; that alone is a monster challenge."

The Army Aviation Chief was cautious. "The basing part will also be something to think about. Ramstein would be closer to the trouble areas but training there will be tough; the air space is congested."

SOCOM Aviation agreed. "There is no way we can train as well at Ramstein as we can at Campbell. That is a big problem. What about England?"

"Lakenheath is pretty busy. Same with Mildenhall. Maybe that one in Scotland- it is out at the end of a peninsula so it would be easy to secure."

"What was the name of that place?"

"It is in the file here; the MOD wanted to sell it but contamination questions shot that down. It is listed as basically in limbo. RAF Machrihanish"

"Let's talk to them. The MOD needs money badly right now; their budget problems are worse than ours."

And they did, and they made a deal.

"I do think we got the better of the Yanks on this deal."

"They needed a place to put an Aviation Brigade and yet have room to train. On the coast there they have it. Not many other places they could go to Europe without problems. Germany is too small and congested; you go farther east and you have Ivan making noise about it. One of the proposals was for Poland; you can imagine how they would have growled at that. Over all it was the best choice; and that money will come in very handy over the next few years."

"That was kind of expensive."

"We needed the place, and it has several advantages over other possibilities. We made a deal with the Pols and the Austrians to train several times a year. So that will give our people experience at mountain terrain training and lowland training. Forests and the like. And at the main base they will be training over water. The best thing is that they can ferry to each training site; and back. Overall it is a good deal all things considered; even having to build facilities there."

"What is the time line looking like?"

"Well the nice thing about being in the world of Special Operations, you do not have to follow all the stupid acquisition rules and garbage that causes all those cost over runs and waste and mistakes. We know what we want; it has been built elsewhere before, so we use the same designs. Do not have to pay for new ones and all that crap. Just have to check the UK building laws and such for compliance and make any needed changes. I think we can begin construction in May and have it done by October, which works out well as that is when we want to stand up the 161st."

It was in March that Liz was called to a meeting at the Pentagon. She went with the 160th Commander. He was not sure but thought that there were some changes with the plan to put the 161st at Lewis-McCord. They were to be surprised at how well the secret had been kept.

Liz looked around the room and was surprised at the Brass. SECDEF, the Chairman, USAUER, FORSCOM, CENTCOM, Chief of Staff and their deputies. She and the 160th were easily the lowest ranks in the room, with her the lowest.

SECDEF started it off, of course.

"You are all aware of the plan to stand up the 161st SOAR at Lewis-McCord later this year. That has been changed. We have recently finalized agreements with the UK, Poland and Austria. The 161st will be based at RAF Machrihanish in Scotland. (showed a map on the viewer) Facilities will be constructed there starting in early May for the Brigade. They will be done by October when the 161st becomes operational. Until the facilities are ready they will train at Campbell. The responsibilities for the two units will be as follows: The 160th will have the Western Hemisphere and Oceania and Asia up to the border with Pakistan. The 161st will have all the rest; Europe, Middle East, Africa and Afghanistan and Pakistan."

He paused as there was some murmuring around the room.

"I know what most of you are thinking; that the 161st basically got all the hot areas. To a certain extent that is true. The hot areas NOW. But looking towards the future I believe that as long as China continues to build her military and shows interest in flexing it, that is very likely where the next big one will be. And there are current problems throughout the Philippines, Indonesia area. Not to mention Korea. So it is not as one sided as one might think."

That was the real meat of the briefing; the rest was the filling in of details. Liz left feeling a little limp. She had gotten used to looking at moving west; now east- a lot farther. She sighed as she got off the jet and headed home. While across the continent, she would have been able to see her friends a lot more than being across the ocean. She got home right after 6, finding Aliya and Max and James just starting to get dinner ready. She hugged her daughter and her son and then kissed Max soundly; then helped get dinner ready and they ate.

Later that night after the children were in bed Max and Liz cuddled on the sofa. This was the best of times for Liz; just cuddling and being with her guy.

Max knew that Liz had come back from an important meeting at the Pentagon; supposedly to finalize plans for the 161st going to Washington. But he knew Liz well by now and clearly she had been very surprised at what she had found out.

"OK, Liz, spill."

"Not Washington. Scotland."

"whaaaaaaaa…"

One of the first things Liz did the next day was to research that Scottish base and area. The climate was first; and Liz was a little depressed as she found out how cool it was on average. 70 would be a heatwave in midsummer. But the good news was that it did not get that cold. Stayed above freezing most of the time during winter. It was about as wet as Campbell. Still the sea breezes would be better in some respects; less pollution. It would not be too bad for her; considering where she had grown up. Same with Aliya to a certain extent; it would not get as cold. Max would not like it that much; and James was just reaching the age of noticing.

She had already let the 160th Commander know that she wanted to visit to look it over and he agreed, telling her to let him know when and he would arrange the transport. She looked at the information available and found that there would be commercial use of the main runway, but it was very limited. The Facilities would be built quite near the runway. Hangers and such. The living quarters would be going up at the same time. Luckily there was room and the idea was to build a fair number of flats-condo's. Plus separate houses for the senior officers. She would need to check on that. Not to mention schools. Luckily Aliya was already preparing to leave her friends and school so that was not a change. James was just beginning so no big problem there. Moving now would be easiest for him of all of them.

A phone call to the planning group at SOCOM gave Liz a lot more information; they promised to email her everything they had and what the plans were. She was hoping that if anything looked bad there was still time to make changes. Even though this was clearly a high priority and an immediate building situation.

The data that they sent her looked good; they were building sufficient housing for all personnel. No one would need to live on the economy. Her Regiment, being Aviation and special operations, was smaller than the others. So there would only be about 1200 total. Some of the services would be contracted out to local companies. The data showed that a K-12 school was in the works as well. They would have around 700 students if her figures were correct. Special Operations personnel tended to have smaller families.

One thing that Liz was just beginning to get was that she would be in command of not only the troops but their families as well. She would be the Base commander, under the RAF or RNAS (that was still to be decided). And that meant a whole other set of problems she would be dealing with. Deciding to do another Scarlet O'Hara, she put that off. And called the Commander to arrange her flight.

The MOD announcement came not long after the formal agreement was signed. It caused some stir, but not much. After all it was in Scotland in a fairly empty area. More interest came when it was disclosed who would be in command for the American Unit.

"Interest in the MOD announcement of the new base for the American 161st Special Operations Aviation Regiment, at RAF Machrihanish, increased when it was disclosed that Colonel Elizabeth Parker, Knightress Parker, OBE,DFC, would be the unit and base commander. Colonel Parker, well known to the UK public for her exploits in Afghanistan in support of Her Majesties Armed Forces, is certainly a very good choice."

The SAS commander looked at his deputy.

"We need to make sure our previous close relationship with Colonel Parker is maintained. Having a friend there could be very useful."

The Royal Commando commander was not the only one to have this thought, though he was quicker to start looking into it. He glanced at his deputy when he said it.

"The budget constraints will last some time. Training has been cut back too much but there you are. Now the Yanks special operations mob probably still have as much money as anyone does, they seem to do better in the cuts than anyone else does. So we need to make contact early with Colonel Parker about arranging joint training."

As a courtesy of course, the DOD had informed the MOD that Colonel Parker would be coming to look the area over. The rep making the contact did not really realize what he was committing her to when the DOD official rather CASUALLY mentioned that some units she had worked with wished to greet her. And the affirmative given was not given with full disclosure on the other side.

So when Liz landed at Campbeltown Airport, which would be again renamed as it had been RAF Machrihanish, she found a rather interesting welcome party.

The Mayor and local officials of course. Even a casual visit required this. But she was very startled to find the SAS, Royal Marines, Royal Commandos, the RAF and several British Army Regimental commanders there as well. She began to get the feeling that she was about to get milked like a fat cow.

She made nice for the reporters and cameramen, she was glad she had come in BDU's and not her class A's. Though they were clearly disappointed in that. She had a quick meeting with the mayor and the others first.

"I am very pleased at the welcome I have received. I need to tell one and all that I found out about this about one week ago. Up until then the plans were to stand the 161st up at Lewis-McCord Joint Base in Washington. Which is one reason I felt I needed to get over here and take a look. In less than 8 months 1200 military personnel and almost 1800 dependents will be descending on this area. Construction will begin as soon as possible on the facilities. We are building a town in this area that will not be all that much smaller, population wise, than Campbeltown is right now. It will be in some ways completely self contained with its own school and support facilities; but a lot of things will still need to be bought locally. Some services will be contracted out as well; but that is up to the RAF or whoever is going to oversee it. We intend to be good neighbors. I can personally promise that I will see to it that we are good neighbors. But there will be problems; that is part of the way the world is. I just ask that people think before they speak when problems do happen. I am looking forward to living here; Scotland has always had a romantic connotation to me. Now I want to make one thing very clear: Helicopters are fairly noisy. We will do as much training as we can over water; but some will have to happen over land. I will do all I can to make it as little an annoyance as possible but it will happen. The daily commercial flights will continue; there are not that many and we can plan around them."

Liz left it at that; when asked to answer questions from the press Liz realized that she could not avoid it entirely but said she could only spare a few minutes as her day was full and she was leaving that evening.

"Colonel Parker, the MOD statement did not mention what the 161st SOAR would be doing. Could you clear that up some?"

"The 161st SOAR will have responsibility for supporting special operations that concern Europe, the Middle east, Africa, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The 160th out of Ft Campbell, Kentucky gets the rest of the world. And they can have it since I got plenty."

"Colonel Parker, will the 161st be supporting NATO?"

"Of course. But I will fall under two commands, that of SOCOM and USAEUR; and will also be supporting CENTCOM. So I will be wearing many hats."

"Colonel Parker, will you be doubling as the Base Commander?"

"Yes. And that will be a totally new experience for me. Everything that happens on the base or concerning anyone from the base will be my responsibility."

The MOD official on hand then signaled that that was the end; much to Liz's relief.

She did not realize that she came off very well; engaging and attractive anyway, her manner was very good for what she would be doing.

Escaping the local officials was one thing; the waiting military hoard another.

There was a conference room in the terminal and that had been commandeered for this meeting. Liz came in and sat down and looked around.

"I guess it is nice to be popular. But I have a hunch there is something else going on here."

The MOD official sighed. He had not been clued in either until just that morning about what was going on.

"Colonel Parker, while this may appear to be an ambush it only looks that way. These are all commanders of units that would like to train with yours."

Liz nodded, she thought she had an idea of what was going on.

"We are going to be doing a fair amount of training for the coming year to be certain; there are a number of green pilots in my command that need seasoning. There are plans to have training exercises in Poland and Austria. This command needs to get used to operating in other terrains than this one. I am also looking at getting some desert training in sometime as well, more than likely in the middle east but I am open to other suggestions. The Air Force will be working with us to transport and practice transport. Frankly, I want to work with the UK military as much as possible since odds are if something is going on we will be working with you anyway. I have been told that at least for this year and next year, my training budget will be pretty liberal. After that it probably will be cut back some but as long as we are with SOCOM that will not be all that bad. So I would welcome suggestions and offers for joint training."

The RAF Group Captain in attendance nodded thoughtfully when Liz looked at him.

"I believe that we can arrange training time and basing in Cyprus. That would not be a problem, more than likely."

"That would be good. I am pretty sure I can arrange transportation for all involved. And fueling at least."

Liz looked at the rest of them.

"As regards the Austrian and Polish training, no details are available. Probably not until the spring at the earliest. That has to be thrashed out. Now as regards here, I think fuelling and the like and the use of transports should be no problem. We do have this nice long runway here. I would be willing to bet that the Air Force guys would be willing to do just about anything if they get paid. As long as my training budget is not in danger, I will push for all I can."

Liz realized that she might be writing checks she could not cash, but her directives were very clear about getting the 161st up and running. So they were going to have to pay for it. She then had another thought and looked at the MOD official.

"I would like to talk to a Royal Navy rep; I am looking at having some boats available to be around when we are training over the water; you never know when your engine might give out. But more than that I want to ask if there is anything big enough we can get that in an emergency we can land a Apache or Black Hawk or Little Bird on instead of it going into the water with its crew in it."

The MOD spokesman looked bewildered at that; but the Royal Marine commander spoke up.

"I do believe the navy has a couple of reasonably small boats that you could land a small helicopter on; not a Chinook but the size of a Black Hawk."

Liz smiled at him. "That would be great; and we would pay for them to be here of course; the savings if we can keep one single chopper out of the water would pay for their use for years. Not to mention the danger to the crew."

Everyone at that meeting blinked at the foresight of the young colonel.

After that Liz wanted to see the area and they all piled into vehicles supplied by the MOD and they looked around which was not much. Most of the land south of the Air Field was a golf course; the MOD informed Liz that some of the land directly to the west and north of it was part of the course but would be taken back if needed. But he had a caveat to that.

"Just south of the airport area is a very famous golf course. They are the only ones not happy about this."

Liz nodded. "That is bad in one way; I might end up hosting generals and admirals looking to play golf."

She was shown where the new hangers would be built; and the other structures for their support. Mostly pastureland now. Then she was shown where the housing and school and other facilities would be built. She had the initial concept drawing and it did not look bad. It would all be rather compact, but nice. The Commissary and PX and Health Clinic would be all in walking distance as would be the school and day care. She was skeptical that it would all be done by 1 October.

"Well, that is probable, but it would not take that much longer. The drawings and designs are being updated now; construction will begin in late April if not sooner; the land will be cleared and floorings and footings poured at any rate."

"We are already looking at contingencies if necessary; we will move later or delay the movement of dependents."

Flying back that night, Liz was glad they had let her use one of the executive type jets and she was able to relax and think about things. She had a feeling she was going to be busier than a one legged man in an ass kicking competition. It was slowly dawning on her that she was going to have an awful lot on her plate.

One thing that was clear to her was that she was going to need an experienced XO. She took that up with the 160th Commander when she got back.

"I am going to need someone experienced at a lot of things for my XO. Where can I find one?"

He looked at her and nodded. "I knew that would occur to you before long; I have been keeping an eye out but no one has appeared. I can safely say we certainly do not have one on board now. I think you need to look at getting a non aviator type, an admin guy."

Liz slowly nodded. That made sense. The Admin part of her job was going to be pretty massive. She thought about that some over the next couple of days then made a phone call.

"Colonel Williams. Thank you. Yeah I guess I am fortunate but I am as busy as hell right now. What I called you about is I need a Light colonel that is really good at admin stuff. More to the point running a base. I admit I am weak there. So I need a good backup. Could you look around some? Thank you."

Colonel Williams contemplated Colonel Parker's request. He could see her point and he agreed that she did need a good admin XO. He thought about that for a while and had his secretary bring in a batch of once passed over Lt Colonels. They were more likely to have experience in admin areas; and they would be older as well. She did not need a young up and comer looking for his next promotion; he would not have either the knowledge or the inclination to really help her. His secretary brought in the files of 30 once passed over Lt Colonels. He started to look them over. The carrot he would use would be that if he did a job for Colonel Parker, her recommendation would probably be good enough to get them promotion to full colonel.

After most of the day went by, he had settled on 5 candidates. He then looked over each one carefully and whittled them down to 3. He then put in a call to each one the next morning.

Liz was wading through more paperwork for her upcoming command when her phone rang just after noon.

"Colonel Williams? Wow that is fast. So you think you got 3 good ones to choose from. Sounds great. Could you email some details on each? Great. Thanks a bunch."

Liz carefully checked over the three he had picked. Each one was somewhat older than most Lt Colonels and had been passed over once. They were all heavy at admin which was one reason they had been passed over. The surprise was that one of them was a woman. Naturally curious, she read the data on her first. It would be nice to have an older woman to help out; they could talk to each other easier than she could talk to a man. However, something about her just did not ring right. She just did not have a good feeling. Liz had learned to trust that feeling and moved on. The next one looked good; but Liz somehow just did not feel anything. The last one –Liz read it twice and was not sure but she thought he might be the one.

Lt Colonel Jason Harkness was a ROTC who had graduated from Michigan in 1995. He had gone into the infantry and stayed three years; then had gone into support and pretty much stayed there. No remarkable postings; he had gotten his masters in BA. He had performed well but not outstanding. And he had slowly but steadily moved up the ladder; always in admin areas. But a fair number of them all over the country and in Germany. So he had experience. Liz decided to talk to him; he was currently Deputy Base commander at Ft Riley.

Jason Williams was making plans for when he was out of the Army. Having been passed over once, he had not much hope of making it the second time. But he had his 20 in so he was somewhat sanguine about it all. He knew he was not a top officer; he was more plodding then brilliant. But he took pride in doing his job as best he could. Tara, his wife, thought he under rated himself but he knew he was just somewhat above average as an officer. He was glad that both his kids were out of college, his daughter just that year. His son had married and was about to present him with his first grandchild. His daughter was engaged to a young man he liked and that looked promising. He had met Tara as a freshman and had married her their second year; she was a real estate agent. Having their kids just before going on active duty had been a little tough but in the end had worked out for the best. He did not really have the connections to get a juicy job in the Defense Industry and really he did not want one; it felt like payola to him. But there were good possibilities that he was looking into and felt reasonable optimism that his second career would be decent if not great.

His phone buzzed and he picked it up. "Yes, Clare?" He was lucky in that at Riley like most older posts even the Deputy Base Commander had a secretary. That really helped.

"Sir, there is a Colonel Elizabeth Parker on the phone, wishing to talk to you?"

He blinked. He could think of only one Colonel Elizabeth Parker in the army and why would that rising star want to talk to him? As far as he knew Colonel Nelson, the base commander, was in. And this was not the way to contact the Aviation Brigade. "Put her on."

"Colonel Parker, what can I do for you?"

"Colonel Harkness, how is your schedule in the next couple of days?"

"Nothing Important, Colonel Parker." A deputy Base commander rarely had anything important anyway.

"Good. I will be visiting tomorrow and I would like to talk to you."

"Colonel, I was not aware that you were visiting."

"Of course not. Right now only you and I know this. 1000 Tomorrow a good time for you?"

"I can clear several hours if necessary."

"We should not need that long. See you tomorrow, Colonel."

He hung up and tried to figure out what was going on. Parker was one of the true rising stars- the 161st was due to stand up in October in Scotland. Rumor had it she would have her birds by then. She clearly was going to make general and above easily. Why in the world did she want to talk to him? Well, he better tell Colonel Nelson.

"Clare, get me Colonel Nelson."

"Jim, what's up?"

"Just got a call from Colonel Elizabeth Parker. She is coming here tomorrow to talk to me. And I cannot figure out why and she did not say."

"Parker? THAT Parker?"

"I don't know of any others that is a woman."

"True. This is interesting. Something is up and if she is involved it is something big. She does not waste her time on anything small, from what I hear."

"That is what I figure as well but I cannot see what it is. Does not appear to have anything to do with the Aviation Brigade; she called here and not division."

"I guess we will find out tomorrow. I will ask around some and see if anyone knows anything. She will be coming into Marshall probably on a C-12 or the like. But since she wants to talk to you talk to her. She tends to run right over anyone that gets in her way, from what I have heard."

"Yeah. And leaves bodies behind. So I will be there and see what is up. Going for BDU since I doubt she is in anything else."

"That is her rep. Play it cool, Jim and let me know when it is over."

"Yes sir."

Liz arranged for a C-12 to pick her up and bring her back same day. Her box raised an eyebrow when she told him what she was up to.

"Good idea. You will need someone you can trust and get along with there."

Liz got there at 0930. Colonel Harkness was waiting for her. Figuring from her reputation she liked it low key he met her by himself. He had noticed a few others watching. Rumors had been flying but nothing made any sense. Colonel Nelson had gotten nothing; no one knew a thing about her; but all agreed it was something important.

"Colonel Harkness. Glad to meet you. Gotta conference room or office we can borrow; or go to yours?"

"Colonel Parker, my office is not far off so we will go there."

"Works for me."

Meanwhile word spread that one of the Armies brightest young stars was on base; and the Aviation Brigade Commander heard about it and called around.

"So no one knows a thing. Maybe not a surprise. She has been known to move real fast on occasion." He looked at his XO. "Crank up our Apache's. Let's give the Premier Army Apache commander a show."

Liz was a little amused at things; everyone was treating her as if she was about to drop a bomb. Maybe a little one, she thought. She followed Colonel Harkness into his office and he closed the door. She sat at the chair in front of his desk and he sat behind it. She was smiling.

What is this about? Well, her rep is she liked it straight so here goes.

"OK, Colonel Parker, what is the deal. No one knows of if they do they are not talking. Colonel Nelson called around and got a big 0."

Liz kept smiling. She liked him. Maybe this was a snap decision but her hunches were almost always on the money. "I am here to offer you a job. XO of the 161st Aviation Brigade." She did enjoy his shock.

"Colonel, why in the world are you offering that position to me? There must be a bunch of hot young officers looking for that posting."

"There might be. Have not heard. Does not matter. I did some checking and looked over some candidates and you are the man."

"That still does not tell me why?"

Liz stopped smiling, leaned forward and got serious. The change was quick and startling. Now instead of the pleasant young woman in front of him he could see the warrior she had proven herself to be.

"I need a XO that has a lot of experience at base ops and admin support and who is no hot rocket looking for his next promotion over doing his job right. You are very solid and very experienced. That is who I need to help me run the base and hold the fort when I am off shooting places up."

The shock was wearing off and he began to think about it. He could see her point and it made sense. This posting would be a shot in the arm for his career; if Elizabeth Parker gave him high props his promotion to full Bird would be actually possible if not probable. This would be a three year posting; and in Scotland which was a place he had visited once and wanted to see more of. Her duty post was going to be very important; if he did well there that could very well mean more good posting in the future. And it would not be boring for certain; setting up a new base was a very rare thing anymore. Especially one that would probably be permanent and high profile. He would be very busy and have to work hard; not something that turned him off of it. There really was only one answer.

"Colonel, I would be a damn fool to pass this up and I am not a damn fool."

Liz grinned brightly and it lit up the room. She put out her hand and he shook it; this was a deal and nothing else was needed. She got up as he did.

"Good. Well that is all I came here for; my plane is waiting. Getting in and out fast will give people less time to try and find out what I was doing."

She got out her phone and punched in a test message. Then she grinned at him.

"I will have your orders cut for 1 May. Is that a problem?"

"Not at all."

"Let's go then."

They got to the airfield to find a whole battalion of Apache's hovering. She had to give them full marks for getting them up that fast. The Brigade Commander was waiting for her next to her plane. She marched up to him and saluted. He returned it. She smiled.

"I give you full marks for having them up and hovering in under an hour. That is about as good as it gets. Good work, Colonel."

She then saluted him and headed up the stairs to her plane. The Apaches went into escort formation as she lifted off; the plane came around at 2000 feet and waggled its wings as it left.

Liz made sure she sent an official message to the Aviation Brigade remarking on the speed they got off the ground into formation.

Meanwhile Colonel Harkness went into the Base Commander's office and shut the door. He looked at him.

"OK, let's have it."

"She offered me the position of her XO with the 161st."

He sat back and blinked then thought about it. Slowly he began to nod.

"She is sharp. Setting up a brand new base she wanted someone with experience in base ops. You are a very solid officer, Jim. Sorry to lose you but it will be great for your career. She is going to hit the heights and I imagine she will make sure that those that were with her get pulled along."

Liz called Colonel Williams and let him know; he agreed with her choice and started to punch it into the system.

Two days later Colonel Harkness got official notification of his next posting – to report to Ft Campbell NLT 1 May as the XO for the 161st with intention to deploy overseas.

Liz was VERY busy trying to get a new unit ready while still running her battalion and while still XO of the 160th. She was glad she would get Colonel Harkness as she needed him.

Liz steadily ground through things as April went along. The only time she felt free was when she was able to steal away and fly her Apache. Take the battalions up and ring them out. The new Little Birds had arrived; but their pilots were still going through the Special Operations prep school, as she liked to call it. Once they got out for all intents and purposes the 161st would be ready to stand up. They already had the forces to make up the Black Hawk and Chinook units. Her three Aviation battalions plus the Maintenance battalion would be just about done. Some of the extra equipment for the maintenance units had not arrived; nor had some of the personnel finished their Special Ops training; but it would not be long. Ft Campbell would lose about one third of what it had before; but since the unit from Georgia was being relocated to Campbell that would even out.

The decision had been made upstairs to make two Regiments out of one while adding a couple of extra companies. The four original battalions of the 160th had been unevenly built; and now by adding one company of Little Birds and one of Attack Little Birds, there were going to be two equivalent Regiments. The only difference would be that the training would still take place at Campbell and the training cadre would stay there. Each would have 3 fighting battalions and one support battalion. Each would have an Apache Battalion, then one battalion of Little Birds and Black Hawks; and then one battalion of Black Hawks and Chinooks. The 160th would have two extra companies of Chinooks over the 161st, but there were two more companies on order and they would go to the 161st so that in the end each would be equal. When they got them, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions would get one more Chinook company.

Overall Liz was quite satisfied with how things were going; they were ahead of schedule and that was of the good. She was still light on officers in her Apache Battalion, but that would come with time. The others were ready to rock.

She was also grateful that at the moment the world situation was unusually peaceful. Iraq and Afghanistan had settled down to the point where the US did not have to deploy any real force in either; and even SF operations had dropped to a new low. However she knew that this especially peaceful time would not last. Things would heat up somewhere again. She just hoped for enough time to get up and running in Scotland.

Colonel Harkness showed up the week before he was due and Liz put him right to work. He had a good eye for things that Liz was not yet very aware of and was a help right away.

Liz still tried to make the every other weekly pot luck picnics at the park; she knew that before long they would be just fond memories. The week of the announcement of where the 161st was going to she was at the picnic. She told them quietly that day.

They had all accepted she was going to Washington; but Scotland was another matter. They were very quiet about it. Saddened but understanding. Susan had sighed but pointed out that the Posse would soon be out of the military; all three husbands were getting out; going to college as a matter of fact. The irony of that definitely struck Liz. But then had it all planned out so that was good. The Crew were also looking at getting out; as were their husbands. Liz had had an idea that this was coming but it appeared that within the next year they would all be out. So her leaving was not so bad now.

Liz had managed a long weekend with Maria and her best buds soon after the announcement. They had been saddened as well; but did promise to take vacations sometime and visit Scotland.

Liz was coming to the realization that everything was changing; her; her career; her location. She had been very lucky, she knew, to stay in the same place with so many good friends around. Now just about everything would be adrift. She realized that she would need her family more than ever and they would need her.

Liz snuck over for a visit in Mid-May to see how things were going. Ground had indeed been broken in April and things were looking at the time to be slightly ahead of schedule. But Liz knew it was too early to make any bets. She had been able to arrange a meeting with a Royal Navy rep and talk to him about her idea of having one or two medium sized boats that could in an emergency take a Black Hawk, Little Bird or an Apache.

"What we have found are two Cloverly Fleet tenders that are in good condition; the Denco people can operate them for a reasonable price; a platform can be built forward to allow a helicopter to land. I have the details right here."

Liz looked them over and nodded.

"These look good. I will head back and see if I can get them funded. Should know in a few weeks. How long would it be before they are ready?"

"They told me that they could be ready and on station in 90 days."

"So I would need an answer by the beginning of July. Well I should know well before then."

Liz wasted no time in going up the ladder for funding; her point that if they saved just one helicopter it would pay for them for many years was telling; and her point of what would happen to the CREW if a helicopter hit the sea was even more so. She pushed the fact that they would have to do a fair amount of training over the water due to their location. So you had to compensate for those extra risks. It took a few weeks but it was authorized.

"Just got word from Colonel Parker; the funds for the two cloverley's have been approved in full."

"Very good. Inform the Denco chaps. The Helicopter types have been considering Colonel Parker's idea and it appeals to them. She did specify that only one would be needed at any time?"

"Yes Sir."

"Well then once the conversions are done we might see about having the other one on call for our people if they are doing any training out of sight of land."

"Yes sir."

As May turned into June Colonel Harkness found himself as busy as he had ever been in his career. The details that establishing a new unit piled up was immense; add to that the situation of preparing a full permanent deployment of a unit; and that the base was even at that point being built, meant a great deal of work. Base housing would be needed until they were sure that the facilities were ready. Then arranging the transportation of so much equipment and then of course the helicopters themselves. However Colonel Parker had gotten an idea there and had been able to sell it to the Brass.

The normal procedure was to have the aircraft all packed up and shipped by sea or by air. Liz had proposed a training flight that would deliver all the Brigades Helicopters in one go- combat loaded. She had found that the overall cost was comparable; and the ability to get it all done would save money in other ways. The Air Force was quite happy to do it if they got paid for it so in the end it worked out. Everyone would get a 72 hour warning and then would load and get to Scotland in 72 hours after beginning. Liz found more and more getting interested as not since the early time of Desert Shield had this been tried. So it was not only a training idea overdue it would give some hard figures on how it could be done.

By the middle of June the last of the personnel and helicopters had been delivered and it was getting a little crowded at the helicopter area at Campbell. Liz began to immediately push the training of the new people hard and the rest of the battalions as well. She intended to keep it up until August; when she would over the next two months see to it that all her people got at least a couple of weeks leave to help start making the final plans for everything; seeing family before they left; and so on.

Liz was trying to make quick visits to the new base every 4-6 weeks to make sure of progress and to tie up other loose ends. She told Colonel Harkness that he would be going on some of these trips to see for himself.

From 16 June to 30 June Liz had her whole new regiment working hard against the remaining parts of the 160th in some very intensive training scenarios. They not only tested the pilots and copilots, but pushed the ground crews hard as well and the maintenance people; she was giving them a taste of sustained combat like operations. AND she kept reminding the crews that this was much easier than it would be in real combat. As the odds were they would not have the same support facilities at hand; and they did not have to fix battle damage.

After a week off to let them rest and enjoy the 4th of July, Liz had them at it again for almost the remainder of the month. By the 25th of July, she felt comfortable with their readiness and declared hard training over.

She was notified that her promotion to full Colonel would come on 1 September. That got her to thinking. Back to where it all started; just over 13 years ago. Benning and Basic Training. Meeting Maria and Tess and Isabelle. Then Stewart, arriving on 9/11. Iraq. OCS. Flight Training. Campbell. Afghanistan the first time. Meeting the Crew; Max and Aliya. Meeting the Posse. Second Afghanistan. The second ASP mess; then James. The 160th and the Super Apache. Third time Afghanistan. And now the 161st and going to Scotland. She had to admit she had been pretty busy. From Private to full Colonel. Found the love of her life and a daughter and had a son.

Liz had backed off of training to let people rest up and start taking leave prior to heading to Scotland. But for her and Harkness and the other staff personnel the endless avalanche of paperwork never ended. She now had an exact count of every person going to Scotland, whether soldier, pilot, whatever; and their dependents. 1235 personnel in uniform; and a total of 745 children and 711 wives and husbands. Mostly wives, needless to say. She was happy that there were now 4 other female pilots; 2 Black Hawk, 1 Chinook and 1 Attack Little Bird. But no Apache pilots yet; and no copilots at all. But she vowed to work on that.

The number of uniformed personnel would go up; some of the base operations personnel would not be actually part of the Regiment. Security, MP, and so on; including the medical people for the clinic. And of course a chaplain and MWR people to run the PX and Commissary and such. Frankly she was looking at appointing Harkness as the Base commander. But in the end she realized that it would be a cop out. Even though Harkness had volunteered for it. She decided to start out wearing all the hats and then maybe dropping that one on Harkness.

Liz had decided to take some days off around Labor Day, when most of the Regiment would be off anyway. She would do one more round of visits with Maria and the others; then her mom; then try and make one more picnic with the Crew and Posse as a good bye.

She had sent Harkness out to do one of the trips to Scotland and he had come back with a list of things they needed to sort out; and then he found out that the bearer of bad news always regrets it when she smiled sweetly at him and then told him the list was his to take care of.

She did one more on her own; found the buildings almost done; they were almost certain to have everything done before 1 October. She looked over the two boats for Helicopter support and thought they would do well. Then headed back and decided that on 21 September she would call for the exercise to get all the helicopters to Scotland in one go. And all the crews and pilots and copilots would go with them. The rest would come on airliners afterwards; and the dependents a week or so later.

The visit with her friends in Savanna was bitter sweet, despite their claims they would visit Scotland some time. They all knew that it would be some time before they saw each other again. They had one more slumber party at Maria's house; she had just told everyone that she was pregnant for the fourth time. They laid around reminiscing about the way things were.

"Remember that first day; Liz was the only one in the section that knew which way was up."

"Yeah that formation was a riot. She was the only one that got it mostly right. The rest of us were disasters."

"And the first time Maria had to fire her M16. Missing the target with every shot."

"I remember most about 9/11 thinking that no one had any idea what was going to happen next."

"By far the scariest time was waiting for Liz to make it back from that cluster fuck of a Field ASP and how endless that night seemed."

"Our weddings with Liz as the Matron of Honor for all three of us."

"Getting off that plane home and knowing I never wanted to leave again."

Liz lay there remembering. Memories that would last a lifetime. She was very content at that moment.

Her mom was very happy with Ted; she was very happy that her mom was very happy. She liked Ted a lot. This visit was quite good. When she left for Scotland, Max and Aliya and James would stay with Nancy until they left for Scotland as well, so Nancy would have some more time with her grandchildren. Nancy made it quite plain that she would be coming over to visit now and then.

Liz sat in the office of the 160th Commander for what was probably the last time, and they reminisced as well. He would be moving on to SOCOM Aviation chief with a promotion to Brigadier. Liz had not yet met his successor; they were bringing in an Aviation Brigade XO that had been with the 160th a few years earlier, before Liz had got there. HIS XO had not been chosen yet. He looked at Liz.

"Frankly I knew as soon as I met you that you were going to shake things up. And that it was a good thing. So none of it really surprised me. Honestly, in three years I expect you to succeed me as SOCOM Aviation Chief."

Liz slowly nodded. It did make sense in a way.

On the morning of September 21, at 0700 Liz made a phone call and set off the exercise, Called Get out of Town, and things started rolling. She deliberately had made sure all the aircraft were ready to fly. So the crews had to run around taking things off, defueling them to a level compatible with air transport; remove rotors and the like. Pack up parts and supplies; and their own personal gear. The Air Force responded with C5B's and C-17's. The Chinooks would be going in the C5B's and everything else in the C-17's. Only one Chinook could fit in; but they found they could squeeze in a Little Bird as well. 3 Companies of Chinooks meant 24 C5B flights; only 12 were available to each would make two flights. But that meant all the Chinooks and Little Boys would go with them. That left the 24 Super Apache's and 24 Black Hawks. C-17's could take two of each. So that would mean 24 C-17 flights. And that was only the Aircraft. Liz had her personal Apache and two others as spares. They had 16 C-17's handy and thus one flight took care of most of them and the second flight would be able to bring all the other equipment and spare birds as well. The Pilot, Co Pilot and crew would go with their birds on the Transports. They had vehicles that would be going and they got crammed full of everything imaginable.

The first transports arrived 7 hours after the call; and were gone 3 hours later. Liz would go with the first wave; Harkness would come with the last. The final assigned transport did not arrive until 12 hours after the first; mechanical delays.

The MOD of course had been told of the exercise, and had arranged for the commercial flights for the next few days to be canceled so that the airfield was totally at the 161st's disposal. Outside of that no one was told. So when Liz arrived on the first C-17, there was no one there. Which suited her fine. She was able to stand off to the side and take notes. The first one landing had two Apache's on it. They had arranged for the area to be sealed off by MOD police and that was all. Apache's would be the first ones to land as they would then theoretically be able to protect the site. The only thing missing from all of this was armaments; none were brought. There was a supply waiting in newly finished storage bunkers. But each chopper was made ready to fly ASAP.

Needless to say the site of one C-17 after another landing; parking and scrambling going on to pull Super Apache's out and start putting their rotors back on caught some attention. People started to gather beyond the perimeter even if it was almost midnight. At one time there were seven C-17's on the field at once, though they were taking off and landing replacing each other. It took half an hour to get the birds off of each C-17. Sometimes a little more. The process continued all night; and by dawn the next day all of the Apache's were there and in flying condition. Though none were flown off; but they were started up and then took off and moved a short distance to where they were parked. The first Chinooks arrived at 0300. It took a fair amount longer to load them and the Little Bird then get them off. Each transport had a replacement crew so that none of them flew too much; and so far outside of the initial delay none of the transports had had any real mechanical problems. The first Chinook started up; hovered then moved a little bit before setting down at 0500. 2 hours was considered quite good for that large helicopter. Liz caught some sleep curled up on a sleeping bag beside her Apache and woke up again at 0900. The procession continued on.

At the 24 hour mark just over half the Regiment was in Scotland, if rather less was in flying condition. The second wave started arriving at 1600 that day. The last one of the second wave arrived at 0200 on the following morning. And did not leave until 0400, 23 September. The last Helicopter was flying at 0600. It took only 43 hours. Liz had estimated the best they could expect was 48. Some people had gotten a fair amount of sleep but not all that much. So Liz gathered everyone and told them to just grab a bag and get some sleep. They had a local catering service bring in food and drinks. Luckily the weather was dry, if not particularly warm. All the helicopters had been moved into their hangers. And then everyone just got a quick bite to eat and sacked out.

This made a fair bit of news in the UK; at a distance the networks soon set up camera's and Liz was told that they kept up coverage continuously until it was over. She refused requests to appear or talk to them; the MOD just said that it was an exercise to see how fast they could move the Regiment. Liz woke up at 1100, and stretched and then headed over to see what was going on. Most everyone was still sacked out. She went over to the new operations building and noted that some of her staff was sacked out there. She went to her office and sat behind her desk; her boxes of stuff were sitting beside it. She saw that the phones were up and running and called Max and her family and told them that they had arrived just fine; Max told her that the news had shown this in updates.

Liz then called the Base Ops section; it had come over as well and was starting to get up and running. The Lt on duty informed her that her quarters were ready for her to move in. She found that she was only a little over a third of a mile away and walked there. It was a brisk late September day, clear but some clouds and a temperature of about 52. It would probably warm up to about 55 or so. And a never ending breeze. Her personal gear had been brought and left inside the door; a key was waiting for her. She rooted around and found some clean clothes and then a towel and soap and shampoo and tried out her shower; it felt great. Feeling much better, she noted that the quarters had standard furniture; and the sheets and such that she had ordered were there. It would really not take that much for her to move right in. Since the base was so small, scooters and bikes would be used and her scooter with a big pair of wings on the front was waiting outside her door and she tried it and found it fun to scoot to HQ. When she got there, it was just after noon. And most everyone was up. She told them all to see if their quarters were ready and if so to head over.

The rest of the day people started to settle in; Liz stopped by her quarters and unpacked her personal gear. The Mess Hall was up and running; it was contracted out. So far the food was good. The PX and Commissary was stocked; they were being run by family members of the Regiment or the support personnel; they had been the only ones sent over first. The MWR people as well. Liz scooted around the base and saw that most of it was up and running; some were still not but it would come soon. She stopped by and found Harkness in his office snoozing behind his desk; she smiled and moved on. Everyone was tired; she had made it plain that the rest of the day would be for them to recover and rest up. 24 September would be the first real day that the Regiment would be on the job.

Liz felt really tired and after eating a quick dinner just hit the sack at 1900; the remaining jet lag had caught up. She was up and going by 0530; hit the mess hall by 0600 and was in her office by 0630. Final arrangements for the official standup that would happen on the 27th had to be made. There was going to be a fairly big ceremony with all sorts of brass and such present. Which reminded her; she checked that the VIP quarters were ready to go. She did not know at that point just who was going to show up but they needed to be ready.

She first went to the hangers and looked around; she wanted to talk to some of the maintenance people about whether they should have bubbles here or not. Dust and such were not a problem; but the humidity was. That might be good enough reason; she would see. She found her Battalion Maintenance chief looking things over.

Major Jack Dawson had worked his way up from LT in the Maintenance Battalion and had spent more time in the 160th then just about anyone else. He had seen them come and go; some good, some not so good, none really bad. But Colonel Parker was absolutely one of a kind. And that was leaving out how tiny and cute she was. He had never seen anyone that could go from cheerful and nice to 100% mega bitch as fast as she did. But he had to admit she only did it when someone really screwed up; and then not if it was an honest mistake. But God help you if you were careless or lazy and screwed up; He better because no one else would. He was not surprised at all that she was here in the hangers early; no office dweller she.

"Major Dawson; how are things?" She liked him; she had really worked on him to come to the 161st; he had been in the SOAR for a long time and knew everyone and the choppers like the back of his hand.

"So far so good, Colonel. I have not found anything bad yet."

"We have all our needed equipment and spare parts?"

"Have not done a full inventory yet but it looks like it."

"Good. I have a question for you? Would it be worthwhile having bubbles here like we used in Afghanistan? For the humidity?"

He considered that. "I don't think so at this time. But we will have to see. Humidity is a concern. But the more likely reason for having bubbles would be to heat them up. No matter how good the heating system, once you open the doors this building and the others will get cold fast. And that makes it so much tougher using tools and especially doing anything with the electronics."

"OK. Wanted to know. And the point about heating is well taken; I think that will be our biggest problem here; considering it never really gets warm."

"Let alone hot. I was talking to a local, yesterday, and asked him when was the last time it got over 25(78 F) Celsius. He had to think about it. Finally said it was a couple of years ago."

"Yeah. Oh well. So as far as you can see, if we got a mission today we have no problem?"

"From our side of the house, yes."

"Just needed to verify. The ceremony for the official Stand Up will be on the 28th. Depending on the weather it might have to be in one of the hangers. Check on that and make plans."

"OK, Colonel."

Liz then headed for the offices.

She tweaked Harkness about finding him sleeping at his desk and moved to her office. They had recruited secretary's and clerks from among the dependents and had been able to find enough. But they would not be there for a few more days. Liz intended for the dependents to start arriving the next day; arrangements had been made to charter some 747's. They would all be there on the 26th and 27th. Her family would be in on the 26th. She checked the incoming messages to see if there was anything important and then checked her computer and her official email. She was glad to see that all the teachers they needed for the school were now in hand. It would begin classes on the 15th of October. She had been lucky in that they had been able to get some of the DOD teachers from bases closing elsewhere in Germany to come here. Ramstein AFB would be the last US Base in Germany; Miesau and the other depots and posts were closed or about to close. This was long overdue in her mind.

The need for US Ground troops in Germany died with the cold war. It took almost 20 years after the first ones pulled out for the last ones to start to go. As far as Liz was concerned the only place that the US needed ground troops overseas was Korea; that mess would not end anytime soon. While Russia had to be a concern, they would have plenty of time to get troops to Europe if anything big started to brew. With the Ukraine clearly not allowing Russia to intimidate them, Russia would have to take care of them first before moving west. Which would, in cold practical terms, give the US plenty of time to move troops back to Europe. And in this new economic times, that was an important consideration. Liz knew she was very lucky to be in the one part of the DOD that had not been all that affected by the defense cuts. The Navy was not in too bad a shape; what with Russia starting to rebuild hers, if slowly; and China still trying to build theirs. Their first carrier that they had home built had had to go back for modifications and they had had other troubles. It amused Liz that the Chinese had spent so much time and effort stealing the US's defense secrets; then refused to copy the parts that worked well. Instead trying to improve on them for prides sake and PR; and finding out that unless you really understood the system trying to improve it almost certainly meant mistakes. But the future threat was clearly there. The Air Force had been forced to close some bases and retire older planes; but the Army had taken the biggest cut. They had managed to keep three of the heavy divisions but the 25th was stood down as well as the two independent brigades and two of the independent cavalry brigades. Two Airborne brigades had also been disbanded. Which was a help in other ways since their equipment would fill the gaps in other units that had come from combat or accidents or just plain being worn out.

Which was another reason the 161st had been stood up. Special Ops was seen as the best force multiplier short of putting heavy brigades on the ground. Liz knew that in some ways the Special Operations command was expected to take up the slack from the reduced regular forces. Of course everyone was trying to predict where the next conflict would be. Liz thought it was stupid to even try; the so called experts had been wrong much more often then they had been right for the last 70 years since WW2. They had not predicted Korea or Vietnam; no one thought Iraq would go to war with Iran then take Kuwait; and so on.

That there were trouble areas was not in contention; Korea; Pakistan/India; smoldering problems in Iraq and Afghanistan; Iran. In Europe there were tensions between Russia and just about everyone; the mess that was the former Yugoslovia was still percolating. Tensions in parts of the Philippines and Indonesia; China still rumbling about this or that. In South America things were still tense with Venezuela as Chavez had somehow survived; if cut down to size by internal problems. Cuba post Castro still had not figured out what it wanted to do.

Then there was the Middle East; things were still not good in Egypt or Libya or Syria. Morocco had settled down. Then farther into Africa the Somalia mess; though the pirate problem had settled down once merchant ships started arming themselves. A lot of pirates had been killed Liz knew due to some Special Operations. All in all that entire problem had gotten much smaller. The rest of the continent was not in good shape at all. But the likelihood of the US being involved outside of the Middle East was very slim. So Liz just did not try and figure out what was next; just to have contingency plans for moving wherever.

Liz then got a call, while she was working at whittling down the paperwork, that the first planes with dependents on them would be arriving around 1000. As far as she knew her family was on one of the first planes. Liz had also been able to get a fair amount of everyone's HHG air shipped on some available transports and they were in a warehouse right on base. The rest plus the vehicles people were bringing would not be there for at least a month or more. She had made it plain to her brigade that a car would not be a necessity on base. They would have busses to take people to Campbeltown. And if you wanted to drive around the rest of the continent there were rental cars. She had made the point that as small as Europe was compared to the US, using their rail services was a more sensible way to go.

Liz knew that expecting real work out of people waiting for their families to arrive was just plain dumb so she didn't. She had released all that were expecting people that day from duty; and the same for the next day. The 28th would be taken up with the ceremony; so the first real active day for the Brigade would be the 29th. Which was a Friday.

Before she headed out to greet the first planes, Liz looked at the messages from the various units wanting to train with the 161st. SOCOM had scheduled meetings for her with Polish and Austrian reps to start to work on planning exercises. They would be starting on the 5th. Another big change coming was that USAEUR was going away. The current one would be the last. Liz was surprised it had taken this long for that one to go away. EUCOM now was a more realistic command. NATO had quietly allowed some of its HQs to wither away. SACEUR had gone away as well. NATO was really no longer centralized. Liz would answer to CENTCOM, EUCOM or AFRICOM. And of course SOCOM. And if somehow they got involved in an India Pakistan dustup, PACOM. Only SOUTHCOM and NORTHCOM would not be her problem no matter what.

One other thing that Liz had been working on was making sure relations with the 352nd SOG at Mildenhall were good. They had the only MC-130 tankers around. The Air Force had their transports at Ramstein, and Liz worked on good relations with them as well.

The planes did start to land around 1000. Max, Aliya and James were on the first plane. For the moment Liz dropped the commander persona and became wife and mother. She had arranged for some golf cart types of small vehicles and they were busy ferrying the people and the baggage/luggage to the terminal where the MOD had made sure some Customs officials were there to take care of the paperwork. This was not the usual way dependents got to the UK but since they were coming en masse she had been able to pull a few strings. Liz waited for all the paperwork and stamping of passports to get done and then took her family to their new home. The rest of the day was spent unpacking and settling in.

Liz found that she needed that day with her family to really get grounded and ready for her position. The great thing about this base is that her home is just a short walk, really, away from her office. With her scooter, she can be to either one or the other in just a couple of minutes.

The next day saw the rest of the dependents arrive and more settling in; and making preparations for the 28th.

At 1000 on the 28th the entire Regiment is in formation (the weather was decent if not great) in front of the main hanger. Every one of the unit's helicopters is spread out behind them. SOCOM is the one to make it official; her congressman was there as well. EUCOM and the DEFENSE SECRETARY are the VIP's. Liz noticed that virtually every regiment in the British Army, as well as the Royal Marines, SAS and Royal Commandos has either their commander or their XO there. As well as a senior RAF general and Royal Navy Admiral. After SOCOM activates them, Liz turns to the Regiment.

"161st, STAND UP."

With that SOCOM with the Honor Guard marches to the Temporary Viewing Stand while the whole Regiment moves to their Choppers. Every single one starts up and then Liz in her command Apache takes off first followed by the Apache's by company and then the Little Birds by company, then the Black Hawks and last the Chinooks. They go out and then into the formation that Liz had been drilling them on. In a huge V with Liz at the Apex, the Apaches move over the field at 2000 feet; right below them at 1500 are the Little Birds with the Attack versions in the middle in the same formation; then behind them in tight boxes the Black Hawks followed by the Chinooks. The entire formation does a complete circle of the airfield then the Chinooks fall out and land and their crews line up; then the Black Hawks do the same; then the Little Birds then the Apaches. When Liz as the last one goes to attention; the ground crews and rest of the Regiment march in formation past them. They turn and stand at attention. Then Liz calls out.

"161st, FALL OUT."

From that point on it is an open house. Inside the main hanger a huge banquet has been laid out. For the VIP's there is a somewhat more refined luncheon in the main conference room of the HQ building. Liz mingles and works the crowd; this is tiring and keeping a pleasant smile is a must but Liz knows that this is part of the price she pays for being here.

Everyone compliments her on their flight and formation. Liz had calculated it to be that way and was glad to see that it worked. This had been covered by the media and was shown in the UK and in the US. Finally that afternoon everyone is gone and she tells her senior officers "Well done; now go be with your families."


	2. Chapter 2

The next day they really began to get down to making plans. Liz had talked to the various senior officers from the regiments and had asked them to forward in writing their training proposals. She was due to fly out that next week to first Poland then Austria. After meeting with the battalion commanders, she headed out to tour the entire base. She was going to see everything and she did. She started at 1000 and except for an hour at lunch kept at it until 1700. Harkness was right beside her with a notepad as they looked at all the details. They checked the new storage bunkers for munitions and Liz as an old 89B was glad to see that looked well. Then the hangers and the HQ building then the PX, Commissary, Health Clinic and the rest. Nothing major had been found wrong; and Liz hoped it stayed that way.

Over the weekend Liz relaxed and stayed with her family; James was fascinated as they went to Campbeltown for the first time and wandered around. Aliya was a little quiet and Liz made a point to talk to her alone.

"Honey, you know if something is wrong you can talk to me."

Aliya would be 15 in January and Liz knew that was an awkward age; she still remembered it.

Aliya sighed and looked at her mother.

"I guess I am still sad at leaving my friends. But I do know a couple of the girls and a few of the boys that will be at the school. Just not well. We did not hang out that much. And of course being your daughter. But I will be ok. It is just a big change."

Liz cuddled her daughter and realized that there really no words that mattered that she could use. She had to remember that as her daughter it would be tougher for Aliya. She just hoped she would be OK.

Monday morning she was handled a large batch of folders containing proposed training plans from the various British regiments. The stack sitting on her desk was almost higher than her head. She looked at it and sighed. Then she called a meeting of her three flying battalions and their XO's. In the conference room she then split up the training proposals and handed them out to the six officers.

"Look at each one and see which ones are strictly one on ones and which ones have proposals for multiple regiments. Group them on that basis."

After half an hour there are four folders showing multiple regiments and 12 with single regiments.

"OK, the singles we put aside now let's look at the multiples.

As it turns out the Royal Marines have all their units involved; sort of expected. The Commandos and the Special Boat Service, which in spite of their name use helicopters on occasion.

The SAS was so small that Liz figured they could squeeze them in.

The 19th and 52nd Brigades were multi units.

The Parachute Regiment. Liz really could not say no to them; besides they were a good shot at being in anything that was big anyway.

The rest of the Regiments Liz decided to see if she could do a big training event and have all of them there; transport them from all over the UK to one place to train and then take them back.

Liz then drafted letters to the SAS, Royal Marines, Para's and the 19th and 52nd Brigades that she wanted meeting to discuss details. She also sent a message to the RAF officer she had met previously to see what was cooking as regards Cyprus.

Then she proceeded to study the details of the visit to Poland on the 5th and 6th and to Austria on the 7th and 8th. In Poland she would meet their Defense Minister and Commander of their army; but the unit they would train with was their 6th Air Assault Brigade.

In Austria, it would be a little different. For one they were not part of NATO. Two, they were very much only into peacekeeping. The reason this had been arranged was that it would be mountain training and the Austrians were very short of Helicopters. Liz was going to quietly suggest looking into making arrangements with the Italians; they were in NATO and they had plenty of mountains. Not that she did not want to visit Austria. She wondered what was behind all this.

Liz was also curious about the lack of guidance as regards either visit; nothing really extensive from any of the HQs she reported to. The fact that she was going alone to both was also curious. No entourage, which for her was fine, but she was curious why not. She decided to make a call.

The 160th Commander only had days left before he went to SOCOM as its Aviation Chief. He looked around his office and knew he would miss it. Then his phone rang. "Sir, Its Colonel Parker."

"Well, Liz, what's up?"

"Just curious if you heard anything about the Polish and Austrian training missions that I am going to visit them about this week. I have received virtually no guidance from any of the HQs and so far I am going alone. I have a hunch this is NOT usual."

He leaned back and thought. "No, have not heard anything. I will be at SOCOM tomorrow; I will ask around. It is unusual for them to not send anyone with you, I agree. I think you need to bring someone with you; pick a young LT and dub him your aide while there. Pick an observant one."

"OK. Sounds like a good idea. I mean all they gave me was the protocol packet. BDU during official business; MESS DRESS CLASS A for the formal dinner there at each place."

"Well make sure whoever you take has a Mess Dress then."

Liz rang off and cursed quietly. She wondered who had Mess Dress here anyway.

The officers of the 161st looked at the email and then looked at each other. Why did the Colonel want to know who had mess dress?

Liz was not really surprised at the answer she got later that day. There were a grand total of 4 officers in the entire Regiment beside herself that had Mess Dress Class A's. One Captain, two 1st Lt's and one 2nd Lt. The 2nd Lt had also put in that it was a present from his mother and had never been out of the box; he also doubted that it fit him since he had gone into weight lifting. Liz just had to grin at that. The Captain was in the Maintenance Battalion; he was a true nerd who was the Regimental Computer whiz. IF it was not a computer his interest was minimal. She wondered why he had bothered with it. So that left the two 1st Lt's.

Candidate #1 was a pilot in the Black Hawks. She had heard that he was considered somewhat of a hot shot and ladies' man. To put it politely.

Candidate #2 was a pilot in the Little Birds. Attack. Platoon Commander. She told her secretary to bring his file. She had a hunch that she was stuck anyway but needed to know more.

Russ Conkel was a good Little Bird attack pilot and he knew it; but he did not boast or brag. He figured that if you had to do that, you were not as good as you thought you were. He loved being in the 161st; it had been hard to advance in the 160th because the Little Bird pilots loved to fly it and had to be pried out of the cockpit. He had gone from #4 in his platoon and #7 in his company to #1 in his platoon and #2 in his new company. He had a fair amount of experience in Special Operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan; and he had a few not so good experiences with the Company; just like about everyone else unfortunate enough to have to work with them. He was also not a bird chaser like a lot of the others; he was happily married and expecting their first child in the next few months. The move to Scotland was a little off because of that; but the Health Clinic here was very well staffed. Life was good for him and he had no real worries. Then his Battalion Commander called him into his office.

"Lt, close the door."

"I just got word She wants to see ASAP. In her office."

Russ stared at him; his eyes wide. "Why, sir?"

"She didn't say. What did you do?"

"Nothing, Sir. Honest."

"Well you did something. She wants you there NOW."

As he headed to HQ Russ racked his brain trying to figure out what he could have done to have Doberman wanting to take a bite out of him. There were lots of stories about what happened when you screwed up and she unloaded on you. Stories were all over Campbell about what had gone down at the ASP. All anyone knew was that within 6 months everyone but Parker was retired or out of the military. From the Division commander on down. It had been a disaster that she had fixed; but the price had been heavy. Blood waist deep and pieces everywhere. And then there was Afghanistan and her taking over a NG Brigade and putting multiple senior officers in the stockade in minutes. That scandal had taken down a Governor. By the time he reached the HQ, and it only took a few minutes, he was almost shaking. He got to Her office and was shown right in; the secretary closing the door behind him. It sounded more like the door on a Jail cell shutting him in. He stood in front of her desk and threw the best salute he had.

"Lt Conkel reporting as ordered, Sir."

Liz returned the salute. "Sit down, Lt." He looked like a school boy about to appear before the principal after shooting spitwads at the teacher.

"Do you know why I called you in?" Maybe this was a little cruel but she had to find some fun somewhere.

"No sir." For the life of him he did not.

"You have a mess dress class A."

He blinked at her and could only nod.

"I am going to Poland on the 5th and 6th and Austria on the 7th and 8th to discuss training for the Regiment there. There are formal dinners at each; and I have to wear Mess Dress. So does my aide."

"Aide?"

"You, Lt Conkel, will be my aide while I am at those visits. I cannot go alone; I guess it is not protocol. Since an aide is not a position that a Regimental Commander has, I have to make one. Of the officers in the Regiment that have a Mess Dress, you got picked. Why did you get one?"

"To get married in, sir."

"Good reason. Gotta sabre?"

"Yes Sir."

"Good. You are set. Now here is your mission: find out what an aide is supposed to do between now and when we leave." She stood up and so did he. "Dismissed."

He slowly wandered back to his area in a daze. The Battalion commander saw him; and figuring it was pretty bad, dragged him into his office.

"OK, how bad is it?"

"I am going to Poland and Austria as her aide. She just needed someone that had a mess dress."

The major almost fell off his chair laughing.

That evening at his quarters his wife asked him how the day went.

"Got called into see the Colonel."

Her eyes got wide.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing. Since I happen to have a mess dress class A I get to go with her on an official visit to Poland and Austria. She cannot go alone; some regulation I guess; so she needs someone to act as her aide and must have a mess dress for the formal dinners."

"Oh, come on you have to have a better story than that."

When he insisted that was it and showed her the file he had to study she almost had the baby there, she laughed so hard.

Liz that night was regaling her family with the story; Max just shook his head.

"You really have a mean streak in you."

Meanwhile the story got out and all of Russ's friends (or at least he thought they were friends) had a ball with it.

"So, think Doberman will have a collar and chain for you? She did that to Sam."

"Remember, her bark is much less nasty than her bite."

"I never heard of anyone having to clean a Chinook with a tooth brush until she made that poor kid that got caught Drunk and Disorderly do it. Took him over a week. And rumor is that was not the worst detail she thought up for him. Don't think he ever went out drinking again. So you really don't want to screw up."

Liz spent the next few days boning up on protocol and the like. Meanwhile she was also having some fun getting a small jet to take her there. Turns out they were all in use or in the shop. Then she got an idea.

Colonel Harkness stared at his commander.

"What?"

"Why not?"

He opened his mouth then closed it. "I guess because it is not done."

"Is that a good reason?"

"Maybe you should go upstairs on this one."

"Probably true." So Liz headed to her office and told her secretary to get EUCOM on the phone. In a few minutes she was talking to the EUCOM chief of Staff.

"Colonel, I am having a hard time getting a small jet to go to Europe. Nothing is available. So either I take a big one which is a waste; or I have another option. But it was suggested I take this upstairs so you are it. Any reason, since it is only my aide and myself, that I cannot take My Apache instead?"

There was silence for a moment "Let me get back to you colonel."

Liz grinned as she set down the phone. That ought to stir things up.

EUCOM looked at his Chief of Staff. "What is the problem getting her a jet? What about mine?"

"Sir for one reason or another they are all either reserved for high level or are in the hanger like yours is."

"Well that is unbelievable."

"She has been checking and I just did; it is true. There just are not any that can get there in time. The rest are in use or not in service."

"Well, then, inform the Poles and the Austrians that Colonel Parker is bringing her Apache with her. One way to make a splash."

The Defense Minister looked at his aide. "She is coming in what?"

Liz then called the 352nd SOG and asked for air refueling over the North Sea on 5 May. And then asked about getting it over the Channel on 7 May on her way back from Austria. That got some head scratching going on there.

Liz looked over the Super Apache. Her crew chief had taken an Auxiliary fuel tank and had taken out the bladder; then they had fastened a door for it. Then did it again. Liz would take a real tank and the cargo tank; one on each wing. Thus her and Lt Conkel would have plenty of room to take their gear. No Hellfires or 2.75's or Sidewinders, but the magazine of the 30MM would be full. Without the rockets that would save over 1800 pounds all together. In the meantime he worked on it to make sure it could make this trip without needing any maintenance.

Liz found that as big as the tank was, she almost filled it. She had four uniforms plus her mess dress and just in case her other Class A. Not to mention some casual clothes and underwear, shoes, combat boots and her sabre. And they had to be in luggage not just jammed in there.

Meanwhile just to have fun she got Lt Conkel an official AIDE rope. She told him that since it was an official visit no collar and chain. He was not all that sure she was joking.

They took off at 0400; and headed South East, though more east than south. Liz relaxed and let Russ play for a while once they got to 5000 feet.

Russ was very surprised at how responsive it was; not as much, of course, as a Little Bird but it still was very nimble.

400 miles out, after having switched to one auxiliary, with only 5% left in the main tank, they contacted the Tanker and Liz went right up and latched on. It only took a little over 6 minutes to fill up and they unlatched and took off again. It was just light when they tanked and Liz let Russ fly for a while again. They contacted Polish Air Control as they crossed the border into Poland at around 0800 and they were directed right into the General Aviation Airport-Babice. Not the major international one. Which Liz was quite happy with. It was not a big Airport, but looked ok. There was an Honor Guard and they had put a nice X down for her to land on and she did. Taking a deep breath she shut her down then said to Russ.

"Show time."

Liz popped her hatch and got out as Rus did his. She made sure her Beret, Green, was on right. She figured that would wig them out. As Always while on duty Liz wore her sidearm. She had made sure Rus did as well. This signified they meant business.

She walked up to the Honor Guard and Saluted the Officer in Front who returned it with his sword. She had read the protocol right and she followed the Honor guard to where several officers and a civilian stood. Rus behind her one step and to her right. They had actually practiced it. Liz marched up to them and saluted them again. The officers returned it and the Official Bowed. Then one officer stepped forward.

"Colonel Parker, welcome to Poland. I am General Sosabowski."

"General, your name is very much like one I remember from Arnhem."

"Thank You Colonel. He was my grandfather."

"I am sure that he is looking down on you with great pride."

He smiled wider. "It is my hope, Colonel. You are a student of Military History?"

"Not officially; but I do read a lot on it. My country owed a great debt to Pulaski and Kosciuszko in our revolutionary war. Casmir Pulaski is one of only seven in history to be given honorary US Citizenship."

He blinked at that then bowed. "Your beauty is only rivaled by your intelligence and grace, Colonel."

Liz blushed at that. "Aw, general, you are a charmer. But I guess it is time for business."

He bowed again and presented the Defense Minister and the Commander of the Army. HE was commander of the 6th Brigade that they would be training with.

Liz stood with the others as an Honor Company passed in review. Then they went into the small terminal. In there was a conference room. Liz was lucky in that they got down to business quickly; the Defense Minister and the others going leaving her, Russ, the General and his aide who had a bulging folder. They spent the next few hours going over the joint training mission. It would be a simulated assault by his brigade. Also some of Poland Commando unit wanted to participate. Liz then turned to Russ.

"My Aide, Lt Conkel, flies the attack version of the Little Bird now but has flown the other. Have your Commando's talk to him. I imagine they would like the idea of going in on them."

The rest of it was details; the General wanted to know how fast this could be done. Liz looked him right in the eye.

"Next week if you want. I just have to check with the transport command to make sure they have some available on short notice. The Little Birds would have to go; everything else can fly here. But I would have to make sure the tankers are available. Outside of that it would be fine."

He obviously liked that and agreed. Liz pulled out her satellite phone.

"Jim. Liz. Need you to check on availability of transport and tankers one week from now. For the whole Brigade going to Poland. Yes that fast. Check and call me back."

She shut it off and looked at the General. "We should know in a few hours."

"Then let us see the training area. It is about one hour from here by helicopter. Your's can refuel quickly."

In 20 minutes they headed out, Liz following an older Russian transport helicopter. She enjoyed the flight; noting the terrain. IT was just north of Krakow, a fairly wooded, hilly terrain. The other helicopter then began a sweeping turn; she could see impact areas and the like. Finally it set down at what was clearly a small training base. There she met more of the staff of the 6th Brigade; most of them spoke English well and that made things easier. A quick lunch of polish bratwurst and Beer and they went back to work on the exercise.

At about 1500 they were done; everyone seemed satisfied. Then the General told her of the very formal dinner they would have in Warsaw. There was a modern motel in Warsaw that had a heliport; he smiled at her and told her that she could go there and he would have an honor guard make sure no one bothered it. The Dinner began at 1900. Liz got a bearing for the Hotel; and then saluted Him and his staff and they took off. It took less than an hour to get there. Liz put the Apache right down on the heliport that was separated from the rest of the parking lot. An honor guard was waiting. She returned their salute and several bell boys rushed forward; Liz and Russ opened up the cargo tanks and the Hotel employees took the luggage. Liz and Russ followed them in.

It was a rather plush Hotel; and Liz enjoyed a nice long bath before getting dressed. As she lay there, she hoped Austria went as well. She would be arriving a little earlier since they had already finished here. Harkness had called back three hours later and told her it was all set up; Liz told him to get the ball rolling. She was able to use her laptop and the WIFI at the Hotel to email all the details. At 1830, all gussied up, she left her room and Rus was waiting; they moved down the elevator to the lobby; attracting a fair amount of attention. Both of them were wearing their Capes as it was night and a little cold.

An official Limousine picked them up and it was only 15 minutes to the Presidential Palace. Liz quietly told Russ that this was probably going to be very boring but that is the way it is. Just smile slightly and nod and do nothing else.

Needless to say someone had noticed an Apache landing at a major Hotel in Warsaw; and things began to buzz. This visit had not been mentioned by the ministry and that made things even more interesting. Liz's Apache was fairly well known and the Doberman painting on the side easy to identify. The media was tipped off and questions began to get asked. Then a hotel employee tipped off a cousin at the main newspaper; and the blanks got filled in.

Meanwhile it was not as bad as Liz had feared; while she did have to greet the President of Poland and some other high officials, General Sosabowski had made sure she was next to him with Russ on her other side. The food was actually pretty good. And better yet she did not have to make a speech. Overall it was a nice night. They got back to the motel just after midnight; she asked for a wake up at 0700. She had made sure that Harkness had called the Austrians and told them she would be a day early.

They ate a quick breakfast at the hotel and had a fairly good sized crowd when they cranked her up and took off. There were news cameras this time. They got up to 5000 feet and headed south and west. It was not that far; Brumowski Air Base was very close to Vienna and it was a small field; mostly for Helicopters so she was quite happy to land there. They were not yet in the mountains so it was easy. They got in right at 1100. Once again a small Honor guard; this time there was no other dignitaries. A colonel was waiting for her. He returned her salute.

"Colonel Parker. General Kragritter is waiting for you at the MOD."

They got into a nice car, not a Limo, and headed there. It took about 30 minutes.

Once there she was escorted to a conference room and met the General, who was the head of Austria's army. He was a bluff man who got right to the point.

"IT Is good that you are early. The weather will deteriorate tomorrow. Today we can show you what we wish to do."

An aide stepped forward and showed Liz the plans. Their small Special Operations unit, Jagdkommando, was around 300 men. They wanted to try several operations; valley to mountain; and mountain to mountain. Liz saw no trouble with this. She wanted to have her Regiment get some mountain time in case they had to go back to Afghanistan. She looked at the General.

"When do you want to do this?"

"Either this month or perhaps April."

"We are going to Poland next week; starting on the 15th. We will be there four days. We can then come right here. Starting the 20th or 21st."

That surprised him but he nodded. "That would be good."

So they finished the plan then the General told her they would have a transport Chopper pick them up and they could then see the areas concerned. He told her the formal Dinner was tomorrow evening. Half an hour later they were at the small airport and on a Sikorski and spent the next two hours where they wanted the operations. It was beautiful country and Liz figured they would enjoy it.

They got back to the small airfield and they were told that a car would pick them up to their motel. The General told her that unless something came up they would not have any need to do anything until 1800 the next night for the formal dinner. Russ told her he would wander a little bit; she told him she would probably do a little but would be working on her report as well.

The dinner at the hotel was nice and Liz turned in early. She realized that alone time with nothing much to do would be a rarity in her life from now on and she decided to enjoy it. Sleeping in the next morning then taking a long bath was bliss. She ate a light breakfast then wandered around Vienna in casual clothes; ate at a sidewalk café and just wandered around until 1500 and then went back and gussied up again. She noted that the weather to the west had deteriorated and she could see that they would have been unable to view the areas today. So they got lucky.

This was noticeably less elaborate and more basic than Poland was. As a matter of fact of the attendees only about a dozen were in military uniform. Russ after looking around quietly told Liz that she was the most decorated person in the room. It was fairly boring and they were lucky to escape by 2000. At 0800 they were back to the little field; the Apache was refueled while they watched and they were gone by 0900. The weather was not the greatest but it was mostly south and west so they were able to move through it. They had gone down to 5% on the main tank and were at 25% for the last auxiliary when they tanked up over the English Channel. They landed at home at just after 1400. Liz told her ground crew that the Apache had behaved beautifully and she was very happy. Liz then headed straight home. She would wait until the next day to worry about her report on the trip.

The next day started the preparations for the training missions. Turned out that the 352nd SOG was in the mood for some training so their request worked out well. Ramstein called back and let them know there would be enough C-17's to transport all the Little Birds. One good thing about Austria and Poland being relatively close was that even the Little Birds could make it without transport. So the transports would only have to show when they were done there. With just seven days to prepare some were freaking out; Liz made it a point to have her Battalion commanders remind people that there was plenty of time to get things done as long as you were organized.

In the meantime, Liz made sure the British regiments and company were informed that they needed to give time frames for when they wanted to do things; the RAF got back to them and indicated Cyprus would be happy to welcome them in January or February. That suited Liz since it would be nice to go someplace warm at that time. She also asked the RAF to see who might want to participate. Liz had a hunch that a lot of people would like to be warm that time of year.

The days went by quickly and soon it was time to leave. The C-17's had come in and picked up the Little Birds the day before. So they were already waiting at the Airport the Pols had chosen. It was near the training area and a military airport anyway. The Chinooks went first; then the Black Hawks, followed by the Apache's. They had to space them out so that the refueling area would not be too crowded.

Finally the time came and they cranked up and headed off; the crews and everyone else were on the Black Hawks already gone. So it was kind of lonely there sitting on the tarmac.

It was a fairly boring first two hours until they got to the refueling area; that broke things up. Liz had decided not to have a permanent copilot so she moved people around; that way she got to know the younger copilots. The 161st had a few extra's just in case and Liz made sure they got in as much flight time as possible. Today it was Trevor Wilson, a WO1 fresh out of aviation training. And he looked it; red haired and fresh faced he made Liz feel about 100 years old.

"Take the stick, Trevor. You need some time in." said Liz just after refueling.

"Thanks Colonel."

Trevor was very nervous when he was informed he would be the Colonel's copilot for the events in Poland and Austria. He had sought out Lt Conkel and asked him for advice. He had been blunt.

"Just do your job. Be prepared; that is what she looks for first. God help you if she thinks you are lazy or careless. She is a great pilot. I thought I was really good; but she is a lot better. And a lot of that comes from being prepared."

So he had gotten the manual for the Super Apache and had just about memorized it. He had a week to prepare and he used every minute of it.

They were flying together if not in formation, basically grouped by platoon, all of them following the Colonel. Trevor for a few minutes just concentrated on not doing anything wrong. After a while a smiling Liz talked to him.

"Trevor, do not worry about flying straight and level; play a little if you want; get used to the bird. This is meant for you to learn; not to prove how straight you can fly."

After a couple of minutes he began to move the stick, begin to get the feel of the chopper. A Super Apache was unlike anything he had ever flown before; even other regular apache's.

Liz could feel him getting more confident; and debated letting him make the landing; but decided to do that when they got back. Give him more time to get used to the ship.

She took over as they neared the air field; the wind was up some and she needed to get used to it. They got in just about half an hour after the last Black Hawk.

The Little Birds were all ready to go; so Liz met the General and looked over the schedule. This day was blocked out for preparation. Which was almost done. Now Liz wanted to meet the various unit commanders; and have her battalion heads do so as well.

One thing it had been hard for Liz to do was give up Battalion command. And she had to work not to interfere with Major Derick Landon, the Super Apache Battalion Commander. He had been in Company A of the 2nd Battalion; an original. He came in as a LT and got his Captains Bars and command of the Company not long after. He had done well in Afghanistan; and when the decision was made to create the 161st Liz had gone over the records and chosen him as her battalion commander. Liz intended to use her Apache to oversee the mission; wander from place to place looking things over. So she was going to have to make sure she stayed out of his place as Battalion Commander. He, like herself, had kept a company command position. Trying to stay in the cockpit as long as possible.

After the meeting with the unit commanders, Liz was feeling much better about the mission. They had all been in NATO maneuvers before so the basic tactics and rules were known to them. She noticed that the Commandos had gravitated almost exclusively to the Little Bird companies. They really liked the thought of riding in on the sides of the small helicopters. The first day would have the insertion of the Commandos; the second day would have the all-out assault as the entire Brigade would swarm the target.

It was planned as this: the target is a well-defended high value one; so the Commandos go in the previous night and secure it; the rest of the brigade comes in to make sure the opposing forces cannot take it back. All the Black Hawks and Chinooks in the Regiment could transport one full battalion and half of the other; the rest would parachute in. The idea was for the Parachute force to land as immediate reinforcements for the Commandos; followed by the rest of the brigade in Helicopters. The Attack Little Birds would cover the insertion of the Commandos; the Apache's would cover everything else.

The target was a village that had been evacuated; it was situated along a small river and in a heavily wooded area. So the places a force could parachute in was limited; as were the possibilities for landing larger Helicopters like the Chinook. So the idea was for the Commandos to seize the actual village; the parachute force landing in the nearest clear area to reinforce them; then the Black Hawks would come right into the town and land their people there; while the Chinooks would use the one good clear area just to the north to land theirs. All the forces converging on the Village to hold it against the enemy reinforcements. One right after the other to confuse the enemy and not allow them to concentrate their effort at any one group. The Apache's job was to attack the reinforcements to slow them up and weaken them. An Armored column was that force; which was meat on the table for the apache's. The Attack Little Birds would be the immediate air support.

It was a fairly complicated scenario and Liz was surprised at how well it went off; and the lack of any serious injuries was a major plus. Not even the Parachutists had more than a few sprained ankles.

In the critique afterwards Liz did note some things that needed work; coordination between the Chinooks and the Black Hawks had not been the best; and the Little Birds had not done as well getting the initial commandos to where they were supposed to. But other than that it had gone very well and the General was quite happy.

The next day's scenario was more straight forward; a massed assault all at once on another target. Search and Destroy. This time Liz was pleased that the Chinooks and Black Hawks did work better together. The Little Birds were only recon this time; the Attack Little Birds once again did the very close air support while the Apache's took care of any major problems.

They lived in tents in the training area; which was fairly cold but not too bad. Though the maintenance people were not happy about having to work on their birds in the open. Liz reminded their battalion commander to remind THEM that they would not always be operating out of comfortable permanent establishments.

The third day was an R and R day to catch up on maintenance and give the people a little rest. Liz sat in her tent and worked on reports and paperwork. They did have little oil fired heaters that did a decent job of heating the tents even if they did stink a little.

The fourth day was two separate ones; the Little Birds would move a force of Commandos to one target, covered by Attack Little birds; while the rest of the Regiment moved in two groups the brigade and supporting light artillery and mortars. The Other group of Parachutists would drop and seize the target while the reinforcements would come in by chopper.

Liz was glad to see that the problems shown previously had been corrected here; and she had literally nothing to complain about. They were all done by 1500; and after the critique the General let her know that the training area barracks would be empty for them that night; they could have showers and sleep in a real bed. Liz told him that was the best news she had in days. The going away party that night was pretty noisy, and Liz doubted if anyone hit the sack before midnight; but that was OK as they were not leaving for Austria until noon.

Liz smiled at the number of hangovers she saw late the next morning; she made a lot of the Pols putting on a massive breakfast and she rather pointedly made comments about how they should all eat up. She got a number of very evil looks for that.

The Flight to Austria only took an hour and a half; the air base was in a valley in the center of the country. They very much filled that air base. There were barely room for all the helicopters and the barracks certainly were not big enough. Then Liz ordered that the support people take the barracks while the Pilots took the tents that had been set up. They were certainly roomier than the Pols and their heaters did not stink.

The first exercise the next day had the Little Birds, Attack Little Birds and some Black Hawks move the Jagdkommando to their targets on a small plateau on a mountain about 50 miles away. Then in the afternoon came a regular army unit transported on an assault in a training area about 30 miles away. These went very well.

The next day was the more complicated one; Commandos seize the target and are reinforced; then a supposedly greater force of the enemy requires immediate withdrawal under fire. Then the whole Regiment brings in a bigger force to take back the original target; this went on all day. Once again there were some problems coordinating the Black Hawks and the Chinooks. Liz realized this was going to need some careful investigating. There was something fundamentally wrong and she had to find it.

They left the next day; the C-17's picked up the Little Birds and the rest of the Regiment took off North. The trip back was thankfully boring.

Liz gave everyone the next day off to rest and see their families; as did she.

Next morning she was talking to Harkness first thing.

"The Little Birds had some trouble; but they got better and their leadership is fairly young. Not really worried about them. The Apache's did not have all that much to do but what they did they did well. It is the 3rd Battalion where I think we might have some problems."

"How so?"

"Coordination between the Chinooks and Black Hawks seemed poor; both in the first day with the Poles and the second day with the Austrians. They did get better in the second day with the Poles. But the fact that the problem cropped up again a couple days later with the Austrians means to me there is something wrong there."

"So who do you think is dropping the ball?"

"Major Young seems solid as the Battalion Commander; and Captain Turner his XO seems good as well. I was listening carefully the next day with the Poles and I think I saw that Young took more control. The Second day with the Austrians he stepped back and again there were problems. So I am thinking the problem is somewhere in one of the companies. Not sure where though."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Going to talk to Young one on one. See what he says. If he cannot clear it up then I have to think that the problem is not only in one of the companies but in him as well."

"What will you do if that is the case?"

"Well it is too early to roll anyone; the problems are not that severe. But I might have to watch closely to make sure that progress is being made. I will give him some time but not a lot; if he cannot show progress in a month or so then he is gone."

Meanwhile at that very same moment Major Young was talking to his XO.

"I could tell she was not happy that second day with the Austrians."

"We did not look too bad."

"Don't they call that damning with faint praise?"

"Yeah."

"I just know she is going to grill me one on one. And frankly I would do the same in her shoes."

"You cannot cover for him forever. He has got to shape up."

"No one cannot say he does not give effort. He puts out as much if not more than anyone."

"But in the end he has to get it done no matter how hard he tries."

Liz had called in each Battalion commander for a one on one so that they could compare notes. The first one in was the 2nd Battalion commander,Major Ed Summers.

"So, Ed, tell me about the problem with the Little Boys."

'Wow, she does not waste time getting to the raw meat, does she'

"Carter is young but he is learning. I have yet to see him make the same mistake twice."

"Fair enough. As long as he does not make too many mistakes over all."

"Colonel, he is getting there. I have confidence he will get it done. And to be honest, we do not really have anyone to replace him."

"I know; I got all the young kids for my Little Birds. Most of the gray hairs except for Conkel stayed with the 160th."

"They need time to grow and learn, Colonel."

"True. As long as they show progress you will not have me on your back."

"I will take that deal anytime, Colonel."

Next she called in the Battalion Maintenance Commander.

"Got any gripes, Jack?"

"That was damn cold working on them out in the open; but you were right about having to do that now and then. Overall things went pretty well. Some of my people are still green but I see no real problems yet."

"Well we had 100% operational Status for the whole time we were gone so I would need to be a real bitch to squawk about anything. So I won't."

The 1st Battalion commander came in and sat down and looked at Liz.

"Considering we did not have to do much, I cannot take all that much credit for doing it well."

"That pretty much says it all, doesn't it? So take off. I got some other butts to chew on."

"I know to leave when I am not wanted."

So in came the 3rd Battalion commander. He sat down. She sat back and cocked her head and raised an eye brow. He sighed.

"I know. We got a problem coordinating."

"I noticed. What is wrong?"

He was silent for a moment. "Joe, spit it out. I am not going to let it go until you give me details and you know it."

He took a deep breath. "Captain Gowers, my Chinook 4th Company commander. He is having problems coordinating other units with his."

"Why?"

"He is not that young or inexperienced. But he just seems to have problems when you throw other units in with his. He can run his own fine; no one works harder. But he is slow to react and give orders when there is something not in the plan. Both the times there were problems he could not react to as fast as he needed to."

Liz sighed. This was not good. She was glad it seemed the problem was not him or his XO but there was still a problem.

"Joe, not being able to react to changes in plans for a unit like this is a very serious weakness. We cannot have this. And you cannot keep stepping in; or even your XO. He has got to improve and learn how to do it himself. If he cannot he is out of here. Simple as that."

Joe slowly nodded. "I know, Colonel. Like I said no one puts in more time or tries harder but he just seems slow."

Liz leaned forward. "As a pilot how is he?"

"Solid. Reacts well to emergencies and the like. But there are procedures for just about every possibility and he has them all memorized. Running a company in a fluid situation that is not possible; he has to think then react and that is his problem."

Liz sat back and contemplated this. She had doubts that he could learn to react faster; the more she thought about it the more clear it became. It is very hard to get into the SOAR; but if you prepared very well and memorized everything you can make it through the tough times they throw at you as you train. She had seen that over the years. As a matter of fact many people saw one of the primary problems with the military was the way things got done by rote; how little original thinking and reacting to unexpected or unplanned events was so much harder for those that got by memorizing the SOPs and procedures and manuals. But in Special Operations that was a common occurrence. Which is why the more independent thinkers and so called wild cards seemed to end up there.

"Well there it is. We need to push him to see if he can react better; I want you to come up with some training that we can use on him. Check around; call SOCOM; do whatever you have to. Because this cannot continue for long. I do not care how great a guy he is or how hard he works; this is a bottom line world and nothing else really matters."

"Understood Colonel."

Not long later Liz was talking to Harkness.

"Well the good news is that he knew what the problem was and who it was. The bad news is that there is probably nothing we can do but transfer him out."

"One guy?"

"Yeah. One company commander. Works hard but seems to be unable to react quickly to unexpected situations."

"Ouch. That is bad for this business."

"Which I told the Battalion commander and he understood. He is going to make it a priority to see if he can do something. But I have a hunch it is something that cannot be learned; either you can do it or you can't."

"I agree. I will sniff around and see if anyone has come up with some kind of training to help that along; I doubt it but one never knows until you look."

"Good idea. And while you are at it, check the files of the Chinook companies in the 160th; call Campbell and see if they have any there that might be ready to be company commanders. We do not have the luxury of time here; and they have more of the senior officers anyway."

"Understood."

The RAF officer had called back and the Cyprus operation appeared to be a go for late January. 3 weeks. Liz grinned at the thought of three weeks of Mediterranean sun. Then she asked him what interest he had found and how much could that area take.

"Well as I guess you can imagine I could have half the entire British Army down there judging by interest. The capacity of those bases would be pretty much limited by water; they have had a drought there that has not let up yet. If that was not a factor we could easily have 2 or 3 Brigades there."

Liz thought on that. "OK, let me see if I can come up with something. If we cannot have more water brought in, what are the limits then?"

"1 Brigade for 2 weeks."

"OK. Give me a little time and I will see what I can do."

Liz then called SOCOM and asked to talk to the G4.

"Colonel Tanner, Liz Parker. I have been offered Cyprus as a training site but they have a severe water shortage. Is there anything we can do while we are there so that there is no drain on their water supply?"

"We do have portable desalination units. The DOD has a fair number."

"OK, what do I need to do?"

"I can give you a number to the DOD rep on this; he can clue you in on what is needed. How big an event are you looking at?"

"3 Brigades for 3 weeks."

"That is a large exercise. What is your window?"

"Last three weeks in January."

"With our movement out of Iraq, there should be several 10,000 gallon a day units available."

"That sounds like a real possibility. Thank you Colonel."

"Here is the number; good day Colonel. Glad to have been of assistance."

Liz called the number and got some figures. She would need to talk to her support people to find out water needs. They had a number of units available so that was not a problem; neither was transport. So as far as Liz could see that would not be a problem.

Battalion support said that they would need 5 such units for the forces involved. Liz had done some checking and found that Cyprus had desalination plants as it was so this would be normal for them.

Now that she knew it was possible Liz decided to see how much she could spend. So she called her budget person at SOCOM.

"Mr. Logan, this is Colonel Parker."

"Good day to you Colonel. I am assuming you have a money question."

"That is correct. I was never given a training budget figure and I think I need more guidance than I got when I took command."

"That is surprising; and they should have given you at least a soft figure. I will check into it and call you back."

"Thank you Mr. Logan."

He then went to his supervisor who agreed that Colonel Parker should have been given some kind of a number. So his supervisor made a call to the #1 money man in SOCOM.

"That is absurd. Not to have given her a number is just plain laziness on someone's part. This bothers me since she is in a very high profile position. I will need to check on this."

He then went to see the Chief of Staff; who was surprised as well and they went to see SOCOM.

"She was never given any kind of a number? OK who screwed up?"

"I have had someone looking and the buck keeps getting passed around. I will have to chew on some people about this but we do need to give her a number."

"What prompted this?"

SOCOM's G4 was in the room. "Sir, she did call me just a while ago about desalination or water transport. RAF in Cyprus offered her 3 weeks in January to train but they need water; long term drought. She asked for enough for 3 Brigades for that time period."

SOCOM blinked. "3 Brigades. What is she doing training 3 Brigades? Is there a war going on no one told me about?"

"I have no idea sir; I was going to ask you."

"OK enough of this; get me a number for her budget and then get me her on the phone. If she is building her own private army it would be polite of her to let me know. Might have need of it sometime."

Liz was digging through the never ending paperwork that late afternoon when her secretary buzzed her.

"Colonel Parker, SOCOM is on the phone. The COMMANDER."

Liz blinked. Something was up and it had to be big. She picked up her phone.

"This is Colonel Parker."

"Hold for SOCOM."

"Colonel Parker. I understand you are planning to invade a medium sized nation. I would like to know where and when so I do not look out of touch when the president calls."

"Sir, I am looking at 3 weeks in Cyprus for training; and quite a few people in the UK are interested. So I needed to know what my budget for training was so I could get an idea how much I could spend there. Since I did not have one I asked."

"OK. I can see what happened now; and the fact you were never given any number is a big screw up at this level and someone will barbecue for it. Now I can authorize funds for this one time operation. What UK units were you looking at?"

"Their rapid deployment force, the Commandos; SAS and SBS, the rest of the Royal Marines and two brigades, 19th and 52nd. And the Parachute Regiment."

SOCOM blinked; he had his speaker phone on and the rest of his staff just about had their mouths open.

"Colonel, the size of an exercise like that usually takes months of planning and many consultations. How long have you been planning this?"

"Just started sir. I had most of the British Army send requests in when I got here; we weeded them down some and the RAF suggested Cyprus. I talked to the Ramstein unit and they figure they can transport everyone. They are good for that time frame as is 352nd SOG. The water question looks solvable; so what it really comes down to is money. Which is why before I made any firm promises I wanted to see what was available. It bothered me that I had not been given a figure but I have been busy somewhat so I waited until now to find out."

There were some speaking looks around the table. This clearly had to be discussed.

"Colonel, get me hard numbers on total cost of transportation and otherwise; at this time I am giving this a tentative go. And you will have a hard number for your training budget when you get back to me; this will not be part of it."

"That is good to hear sir. I should have those numbers to you by tomorrow."

"Very good Colonel. I will be waiting for your call. Good day."

"Good Day general."

He hung up and looked around the room. "OK, the good news is that she is not building a private army. The bad news is that it certainly looks like she could if she wanted to. I would like an explanation why it appears she has most of the UK Military in her pocket."

His Deputy had a poker face; SOCOM knew that one well. He glared at him. "Give it up now."

"Well, sir, those two tours in Afghanistan; her last two. She really saved the bacon of half a dozen units of the British Army, Royal Marines, Commandos and made great friends with the SAS. The RAF is very fond of her as well. She delivers what she promises. That blurb about no one ever dying on a mission she was in charge of or escorting really means a lot to the Brits. They lost a fair number of people; more than we have. Losing none while she was there really hit home for them. And there is a practical matter as well. The defense budget of the UK has been very tight for the last two years and will be for a while; budgets for training are way down. And then she shows up with a Special Ops unit that everyone and their Aunt Sue knows has more money than anyone else does right now. Right in their backyard. So I have no doubt that figures into things."

Everyone was quiet while they thought about that. SOCOM mused.

"This kind of training exercise normally needs about a year to put together; if she can do it in a few months with just her staff and the brits helping out then most of you ought to be fired."

There were some uncomfortable looks around the table. Then he grinned. "She can get away with it. Probably no one else could. Just because of the unique situation. Still if she pulls this off successfully we might have to take her away from her Apache a little sooner than we thought. We need her ability here. More than we need a top SOAR regimental commander. Put her in staff college for a year then give her a star."

Liz contacted the RAF officer and told him that it was probably a go for the larger exercise but she would get the word for sure in a day or so; she also asked him if the Cypriots had any idea of how big a force would be coming.

"They were informed of the possibility it could be this big. Once you know for sure then I will tell them. So the early word is good?"

"Just got finished talking to SOCOM and he seems amenable to funding the large exercise; so I need hard figures of how many troops will be coming. I am pretty sure I can swing the transportation of helicopters so any you want to bring should be a go. The desalination units will have a capacity of 50,000 gallons a day. So that should take care of the water concerns; we can probably get them there early and leave them for a while so that will help with the overall water situation."

"They would appreciate that. I should have hard numbers for you tomorrow."

"Sounds good. Be talking to you."

The RAF Group Captain sat and contemplated this. The word had been that Colonel Parker was very well connected; this seemed to support that. He buzzed his aide.

"Start contacting the units on the list; get numbers of troops as well as any support equipment they want to bring. Helicopters and things like Artillery and mortars. Tell them I need hard numbers by noon tomorrow."

Liz then called a battalion officers meeting; that meant all commanders and XO's and Colonel Harkness. They all arrived in half an hour.

"OK, people, it looks like the Cyprus operation is a go. Start planning for it. Colonel Harkness, call Ramstein and see just how many transports they can bring to this party."

All over the UK units were called and commanders were informed. Liz went back to her paperwork.

Early the next morning Liz was in her office looking at the rough plans they had made about the Cyprus exercise. She was thinking that the units could switch off being OPFOR and Allied Forces. She looked at the coast of Turkey which was only 50 miles away. She got to thinking about that. Now there was still tension between Greece and Turkey about Cyprus. So she got on the phone with the RAF Group Captain.

"Will there be any trouble with the Turks us swarming on Cyprus?"

"Should not be; but I have good contacts there and I will call to make sure."

"Thank you."

The more she looked at Cyprus, the more it looked like they should concentrate on the more mountainous end. She would have to see how much they would be willing to let them use.

The Group Captain had spent a fair amount of time stationed in the Mediterranean, and had made a point of cultivating good contacts with most of the NATO members in the region; Turkey being one of them. So he called his best contact in Turkeys Defense ministry; fairly high up in the leadership.

"We are looking to have a rather large training exercise the last three weeks in January. Would that cause any problems? Could you check and get back to me soon?"

The Turk was from an old military family; well connected. So he was able to talk to the Deputy Defense minister rather quickly.

"The British and Americans want to do a large exercise on Cyprus?"

"The new Special Operations aviation regiment; and several brigades of the British Army. SAS, Para's, Commandos and regular forces."

"Probably want to go to someplace warm."

"Very much so."

"No problem with this much warning. I am surprised we did not hear about this earlier."

"My contact says it was only informally discussed until the budget was approved."

"Ah yes. Their Special Operations still have a large budget."

"About the only ones that still do outside the Chinese. Or the oil Arabs."

The Deputy Minister was clearly thinking. The officer knew to be patient.

"With the British defense budget as it is, clearly the Americans are footing the bill."

"They are even bringing in portable desalination plants to make sure there is plenty of water; and will be leaving them there for a while to help with the water situation."

"Very intelligent of them. That kind of goodwill is remembered."

He thought some more. "Our Army has been complaining about the lack of training funds."

"As is everyone."

"Cyprus is a small island for that many troops. Perhaps we can be of assistance to a fellow NATO member."

The officer did not need to be told any more.

The Group Captain put down the phone slowly. He was beginning to get the same feeling a conductor on a runaway train must feel. His Aide came in.

"Here are the figures for the troops sir. Just under 10,000. 20 pieces of light artillery and twenty helicopters – all transport types."

"Very good. The Turks just intimated they would like to play as well."

"Good god."

"Quite."

Liz looked at the phone as if it had bitten her then put it back to her ear.

"So 10,000 men, 20 pieces of light artillery and 20 transport helicopters. About what I thought. Did the Turks have any numbers?"

"My best guess would be about 5000; at most. I do believe the commando units would be the ones coming. Not all of them of course. They would have 20 Euro copters for transport."

"We would have to train in Turkey since more Turkish troops on Cyprus would raise all kinds of hell."

"Without a doubt."

"OK, talk to them about where they would like to train. This would mean we would not have to use much of Cyprus to actually land on. The mountains, mostly."

"That was understood. I am sure the Cypriots would be happier that way."

"Very well then I will float this upstairs."

Liz was beginning to wonder what she had gotten herself into; this was like a snowball rolling downhill faster and faster and bigger and bigger.

Liz then made the call to SOCOM. She was put right through to him.

"Colonel Parker, you have the numbers?"

"Yes sir and also we have someone else wanting to come to the party."

"Oh?"

"The Turks. Their commandos or most of them. They want to train in the province closest to Cyprus. Probably 3-5000."

"I guess one should not be surprised. Those numbers for the Brits?"

Liz gave them to him. "Ramstein has said they can handle it; it will take everything they have but they can do it."

"Very well – it is formally approved. But no one else may join now."

"Yes sir I will tell anyone the invitations have gone out and that is that."

"Good Day colonel."

"Good day General."

He looked at his staff. "The Turks want in. Most of their commandos; they will train around Alanya. This will be the largest joint NATO exercise next year."

"And all arranged by a new Colonel sitting in Scotland."

"Remarkable."

"And actually quite cheap when it is all said and done."

"Very cheap; just fuel and ammunition. Not much ammunition. But a lot of fuel. However it is good that the Turks are involved. One hopes Colonel Parker can work her magic with them. Our relations need some improving there."

Liz meanwhile was beginning to wade into the whole exercise which had mutated beyond her wildest nightmares. Grimly deciding to just put her head down and move ahead she began to query the various regiments with the new information. She was figuring that they would do a week on Cyprus and then go back and forth to Turkey for the operations there.

The Defense Secretary got wind that a major exercise was planned in Cyprus in only three months; since that was the first he had heard of it he sent an Air Vice Marshal to have a talk with the Group Captain.

"Group Captain Bryce, the Secretary would like to know about this exercise and how long it had been planned."

"Sir it was only informally discussed up until this last week; and only in the last month at all."

"The new unit that Colonel Parker commands is part of it."

"Actually sir that is where it started. I made a remark at their standup about Cyprus and it has grown a bit."

"Just slightly. Who is involved?"

"Commandos, SAS, SBS, Para's and the 19th and 52nd Brigades. Oh, and the Royal Marines."

The Air Vice Marshal was still for a moment; then nodded. "Is that all?"

"No sir. The Turks are in and we will be doing a fair amount of training with their commandos around Alanya."

"Colonel Parker has planned all this?"

"The Turks were a total surprise to both of us but as she remarked the extra room on the mainland will make it better training. We envision a series of assaults and movements and the like. First with the 19th and 52nd Brigades in the mountains of Cyprus; those units have had a rather heavy turnover and the great majority of them have no familiarity with mountain operations. One force will play aggressors and the other defenders then switch off. About a week doing that. Then we will join the Turks on the mainland for more of that. Colonel Parker and I have thought some operations using the special units on both sides, once again switching off playing aggressor and defender. Two weeks of that."

Slowly the Air Vice Marshal nodded. "Colonel Parker was able to get funding for all of this?"

"Yes sir; she informed me that SOCOM personally authorized it out of his training budget; not hers."

The Secretary looked at the Air Vice Marshal. "Colonel Parker was able to get this done this quickly; and apparently very easily?"

"Yes sir. Remarkable."

Liz had talked to several of the regimental commanders with her ideas and they had been amenable. They liked not having elaborate plans with everything practiced and rehearsed. They were all combat veterans and did not think much of such regimented training exercises. At least not much as regards preparing troops for real combat. She made it clear they were the experts at ground warfare and that they needed to let her know if she was wondering off course.

One idea that had come up was to have a meeting of all the unit commanders and staffs and thrash it all out. That was agreed to and it was scheduled for 1 November at the MOD. Liz had been given a contact number for the Turks and she used it for the first time.

"This is Colonel Parker, 161st SOAR. We will be staging the exercise No Name the last three weeks of January around Cyprus and Alanya. The Turkish units involved are invited to send Reps to the MOD on 1 November to finalize plans for the training."

"I will see to it the message is delivered properly, Colonel Parker."

"Thank You. My number is this. Good Day."

"She is calling it No Name?"

"Guess it is as good as any and does sort of describe it."

Liz had talked to the Ramstein unit and they were amazed at how the operation had grown; when told SOCOM would be footing the bill they were cheerful. They had checked with the RAF base at Cyprus and there was just enough room for their C-130's for use in the operations. They would use C-17's to move everyone there. And back. The 352nd SOG would have their tanker C-130's there as well.

At a command meeting Liz had given the rest of the senior officers the word on the changes.

"SOCOM told me no more; so there will not be. Meantime I want to train with a couple of the single regiments in November; the first two weeks. This will be strictly 3rd Battalion practicing combat mission assaults; the Attack Little Birds will be doing the escort part. So you two coordinate with the regiments chosen."

Liz had put this together to not only give the two units training; but to see if that one captain could do better. She was quietly determined if he showed no improvement he was out.

The weather had gotten colder and wetter; Liz had a bad feeling she would only be warm when they were in Cyprus.

Liz had been grateful that no taskings had happened so far; the 160th had had a battalion in Bagram that was slowly leaving; the Afghans had a fair number of helicopters now; and the Company had some as well. It was questionable if they would even replace that remnant, but if they did it would be the 161st supplying the unit. SF operations there were dwindling; so they might not need anyone from the 161st. Otherwise things were very quiet; anything going on was in cooperation with the Company using local transport. There was very little going on in Europe or Africa that involved Special Operations. Now things had warmed up again a little in the Philippines and Indonesia, but even there not much was going on. Liz hoped it continued but was realistic enough to know it wouldn't.

The Scots and the Welsh regiments were going to be participants in the exercises; Liz would not be there. She had quietly told 3rd Battalion that their questionable captain had to show improvement.

As always when she was not where her people were, Liz got antsy. So she wandered around the base and hangers poking her head in here and there. That did help her get more familiar with both the base and the people.

The training had taken place at Salisbury. One day for each of the Regiments; assaults and movement. As Liz had ordered, Major Young threw in a couple of unexpected wrinkles in the later parts of each session.

At the end of the second day, just before the Helicopters would take off for their return to Scotland, Joe and his XO stood alone talking.

"I checked around and everyone pretty much told me the same thing; this is something that cannot be learned; either you can do it or you can't."

"And he can't."

"No."

Liz had scheduled the Battalion review of the training sessions the very next morning after they got back. Once again deliberately she did not attend; this was the battalions responsibility.

"Captain Gowers, the Chinooks were late on the pickup after exercise 3 was changed."

"Yes sir."

"Why was that?"

"Sir, it took time for me to coordinate with the Little Birds for proper escort."

After the review Joe and his XO looked at each other; his XO slowly shook his head. Joe nodded sadly.

Joe walked towards the Commanders office like a man walking up the gallows toward his own necktie party. He kept thinking there was something he could have done but he could not think of anything. Everyone he had talked to said the same thing. But he still felt it was his failure.

Liz took one look at Joe and sighed.

"Leave that for last. How were the Little Birds?"

"They were a little rough but got better. They are very green but improving."

"The rest of 3rd Battalion?"

"Solid. No real problems."

Liz nodded. "Now for the elephant in the room."

Joe took a deep breath. "I did as you ordered for both sessions. And in each he was slow to react and clearly uncertain. He made the right decisions in the end but it took too long for him to think it out and make the call."

"So if this had been a combat situation?"

"We would have had casualties if the enemy had been alert."

Liz sat for a while. "I looked over his record; none of this was in it before; and he had been a company commander for the 160th for 6 months before he came to us."

"Colonel, they had done nothing in those 6 months. It has been pretty quiet the last year or so."

"Let us hope it continues. So he was never tested."

"No sir."

"You do not think he can get better."

"No sir."

"Then there is nothing else to say. I will explore the replacement possibility. There is no one in that company or in the other one that you think can be pushed up?"

"No sir. Captain Jeffries of the other Chinook company is quite good but his XO is very young. The XO of Captain Gowers company is also very young."

"Just wanted to be sure. Well until we have a replacement in mind let's not make him more miserable than he will be. Clearly he will have to leave; but where we can get a replacement is obvious; whether we can is another matter."

Liz thought for a bit then called Harkness.

"Jim, in your rooting around did you find a possible replacement for a Chinook company commander?"

"Sir, there is a senior 1st Lt in the 160th who is not even a platoon commander but seems to be quite good. Has almost 3 years in the SOAR. He really seems to be the only real possibility inside; anyone outside would need the training."

"OK. I guess I will need to have a conversation with the 160th"

"Yes sir."

Liz sighed and looked at the clock. Would not be able to call; but she could send an email. Gowers would be leaving SOAR to regular Aviation so it was not like it would be a trade. Oh, well, suck it up Liz.

When he got in that morning the new 160th commander noticed that he had an email from the 161st. He opened it and read it. This surprised him a little; she was chopping heads pretty fast. They had only been operational for not even 2 months. He thought for a while then called in his XO.

"Ed, look at this." And showed him the email.

He whistled. "Pretty fast with the blade."

"Yeah. Get his folder and see if this was obvious or what."

Not long after they were looking at his folder; all had been copied to make sure there was a spare in case of fire or whatever. They spent a few minutes looking it over and then the Commander sat and thought some more.

"Nothing jumps out. He was a company commander for 6 months here before he went there and as I recall she worked all of them hard."

"Yeah but as I recall both companies of Chinooks were usually together and the other captain was senior. So he never really had to do anything."

"Well he could not hide anymore is what I see. Looking closely at his record with this in mind you could kind of see it. But it certainly was not obvious."

"She likes to really throw new wrinkles in to make the company commanders think. I guess he just could not move fast enough."

"In our business that is bad. So I can see why she is offing him. You hear about that huge exercise in Cyprus and Turkey?"

"Yeah. Word I get is that it started out small and just expanded like a sonuvabitch."

"That is what I heard; now it is going to be the biggest NATO exercise anywhere next year. So she figures this guy cannot cut the mustard. Well the LT she mentions is pretty senior."

"Yeah. He does seem to deserve the position. And it would not weaken that company to lose him much."

"That is what I am thinking. So talk to the Battalion commander first; then if he does not scream too loud let the kid know."

He then emailed back giving his ok. She would have to make the request for transfer; and then it would be up to SOCOM to figure out what to do with him. The guy would probably be fine with a regular Aviation Brigade.

Liz was glad on one hand to read the email; but on the other hand she would have to tell Captain Gowers he was out. She had a thought and called the 101st Aviation Brigade.

"So there it is, Colonel. I am sure Captain Gowers would do fine in a more regular and structured environment. He just takes too much time to make up his mind. He makes the right decisions, just takes too long."

"Send me his file."

"The 160th has a copy. I will let them know to get it ready for you."

"One of my Chinook companies is very green. I have a LT acting as commander but he is not ready. This guy is experienced. SO it might work out for both of us."

"Thank You, Colonel. Captain Gowers never puts less than all he has into anything, and that is one reason I hate to lose him. But sometimes for all one puts into something, in the end it is not enough. For the SOAR when too much weird shit happens, he cannot cope. Anywhere else he should be fine."

The XO looked at him. "She got the 101st to take him?"

"Yeah. I did a little checking and one of their Chinook companies is very green. So maybe it will work out for everyone."

Liz then decided to talk to the 3rd Battalion commander and headed down.

She had gotten used to people reacting when she just walked in the door but it still was not really comfortable for her. She found 3rd Battalion offices and their commander. She walked into his office. He stood up.

"Colonel. I am guessing you have news."

Liz closed the door behind her. "Pretty good news. The 160th has a solid candidate; and best of all I talked to the 101st Aviation brigade and they need an experienced Chinook company commander. So he will still have a command."

Joe relaxed. "That is so much better. I really hated having to tell him he was all but out on the street."

"You will not be telling him; that is my job."

"I am his battalion commander."

"I am the one who has pushed this. The dirty end of the stick is in my hand. I am the one that deals the dirt. I will be the one that tells him he is not good enough for the 161st SOAR. That is final."

Liz took a deep breath. "Have him sent up in an hour."

She headed back to her office. Joe sat for a while and then his XO popped his head in.

"So when?"

"She wants to see him in an hour."

"She is going to do it?"

"Yeah. Hardcore on that."

"Well she is the boss. And she is taking this particular shit detail."

"The good news is that she got him a company command in the 101st Aviation Brigade. I guess she pulled some old strings or something."

"That is not so bad then."

"No, I guess not."

Captain Tom Gowers knew that somehow he was in trouble. You did not get sent to HER office if you were OK. He could not figure out what he had done.

Liz sat in her office and took some deep breaths. She had not really done this before; at least not face to face. True, she had had that colonel arrested; but she had not fired him.

Captain Gowers walked in. Liz sucked it up.

"Captain, there is no easy way to say this so I will just say it. You are being transferred to the 101st Aviation Brigade to assume command of B Company of their 3rd Battalion. Everyone tells me, and I saw nothing to suggest otherwise, that you work as hard as anyone in this unit. This is not a reflection on your effort or anything else except you cannot make decisions fast enough for the 161st SOAR. I do not want to do this but feel I must. I am very sorry. The Transfer is immediate; you will be reporting to the 101st in one week. If you need more time to pack up you will have it."

He slowly sank down into the chair. Liz took a deep breath. This was the hardest thing she had ever had to do. She got up and walked to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Tom, some people just are not suited for this. You just do not move fast enough. It is like in football when a WR outruns the secondary. It is not their fault they are not fast enough. It just is what it is."

Tom slowly nodded. "I guess I knew I was in trouble. But I could not imagine it was this bad. But it is true that I have to think about things before I do them. I cannot react fast enough."

"You will still have command of a company of Chinooks. Just in the 101st Aviation brigade."

He slowly nodded then stood up and looked at her. "I appreciate that you did this yourself colonel. I did the best I could but it was not good enough."

"Tom, no one doubts your commitment or your effort. If effort and working hard was enough you would be fine. But it is not here."

After he left Liz just sat in her office, trying not to cry. The look on his face when she told him would be with her for a long time.

Liz felt very depressed for the rest of the day. She stayed in her office and mechanically worked through the never ending paperwork.

She was certain that she made the right decision; but doubts still nagged at her. Intellectually she knew that if someone could not make decisions fast enough then they were a hazard. Especially in the world of combat aviation. Yet the look on his face; and she knew he had worked as hard as humanly possible to be good enough. But as she had told him, all the want to in the world is sometimes just not enough. She knew this was one of the prices of command. And she had wanted this command. But was she willing to pay the price? Her head was telling her that she was over reacting to her heart, but that was small comfort.

She went home that evening to her family; seeing James bouncing around and finding Aliya talking on the phone to one of the new friends she had met here helped immensely. Max had taken a job at the Commissary in order to have something to do. He had been a little surprised that working in their order department was actually kind of interesting. He did not know how long that would last, but for the moment it was OK. He came in to find Liz sitting on the sofa smiling at James who was enthusiastically playing with some toy cars.

Aliya was talking animatedly to one of her new friends; she seemed to be doing very well adjusting. That had been one of his and Liz's big worries. She had had almost 5 years as friends with the kids from the Posse. They had been a huge part of the reason she had done so well. He looked at Liz and realized that the smile was a little plastic; which was very rare for Liz outside of a formal occasion. This was not good. He went over and sat down and pulled her close. She snuggled in and laid her head on his shoulder. He waited patiently for her to say something; she might wait until they were alone later and that was fine with him; as long as she got it out eventually.

Liz just lay there until it was time to fix dinner then she quietly helped Max with it. They ate and she forced herself to talk to Aliya and James normally. She knew Max had already figured out something was wrong so she just waited; eventually James went to his room to do something and Aliya went out to talk with her new friends at the community center. She had started doing that most evenings and Liz and Max were happy to see it. School had started the month before so that most days they did not see much of her. So Max tugged her down next to him on the sofa and just held her. She sighed in contentment.

"I had to relieve a company commander today."

Max was silent; the best way was to let her get it out her way.

"He worked as hard as anyone but he could not adjust to changes quick enough."

Max just held her.

"The look on his face when I told him will be with me a long time. I was able to get him a company command in the 101st but it still is a comedown any way you look at it."

Max sighed. "Comes with the territory babe."

"I know. This is the first time I had to tell someone to his face that he was fired."

Being with her family helped a lot but it would still be with Liz for a long time.

The next day Liz forced herself to get back to work and start looking at the details on the Cyprus operation.

Meanwhile the 160th Commander had called in 1st LT Will Ranger. He was trying to figure out why he was seeing the commander; as far as he could remember he had not done anything wrong.

"Sit down LT."

He sat.

"Good news for you. You are getting a company command with the 161st. B Company of their third battalion. Transfer is immediate."

He was stunned. A company command? He looked at the commander.

"I have never even commanded a platoon, sir."

"Not formally on paper but we both know you have done well there. I have no doubts about you and neither does Colonel Parker or she would not have asked for you."

"She asked for me?"

"Yes she asked for you. But before you get too much of a swelled head you are the only one here that is considered ready; and anyone else would have to go through SOAR training. So you got lucky."

He nodded, a little dazed. "I am replacing someone?"

"Yes. Your predecessor did not get it done; or at least not to the satisfaction of Doberman Parker."

He left still trying to get his mind around this; he had wanted to get promoted and get a command but this was out of the blue. He figured he might have gotten a platoon in the next year; but a company was at least two years off. But not anymore. Still he knew he would be watched; and Colonel Parker would not be slow to chop him if he did not get it done.

Meanwhile Captain Gowers who was unmarried had not wasted any time. He had packed and was gone in two days. The word spread rapidly that the Doberman had eaten her first victim. That tightened everyone up.

Liz was aware of it and wondered if she should say anything at the weekly meeting of the Battalion Commanders. She decided not to. What she had decided to do was each month meet with all the officers of each battalion; and then the enlisted separately. It was a closed door meeting and she made it clear that no names or any identifying information would be used from those meetings; they were a bitch and gripe session. One week after the transfer, just before Lt Ranger arrived, she had a meeting with the enlisted in 3rd Battalion.

She walked into the teaching area of the HQ building; it was an auditorium type of building that could seat about 400. So there was plenty of room.

They of course stood up as she walked in. She sat on a chair on the podium area and they were in the seats. She looked around and decided that she needed to clear the air.

"First off. Captain Gowers was transferred due to performance and no other reason. Just wanted that out of the way. Lt Ranger will be arriving tomorrow to take command of B Company. I will push for his promotion to captain as soon as possible. He is an experienced man from the 160th and he should do well. Now that is out of the way. Let's hear what you got to say."

Interestingly no one had said anymore about Captain Gowers which Liz was grateful for. Just the standard gripes nothing new.

Lt Ranger arrived on the commercial flight the next day and immediately was taken to Liz's office. She shook his hand and had him take a seat.

"I guess you know why you are here. Your predecessor was unable to get it done. It is up to you to do better. Now for the moment there are no scheduled training missions; but you will want to check your chopper and meet your people. Take them out training; that is not a problem. You just have to give warning to our S & R boat."

"Colonel I am grateful for the opportunity. You will have my best."

"I expect nothing less."

"Colonel, the rescue boat. I had not heard about it."

"It is a modified cloverley boat with a platform mounted so that most helicopters can land on it. Your Chinooks are too big so all they can do is be there to fish you out if you go in. But that is the best we can do."

"Yes Sir."

"I will push for your promotion as much as I can. It will probably take a couple of months."

"Thank You sir."

"You will earn it, make no mistake."

Liz felt better after he left; she had a feeling he would do fine. She hoped so. She turned back to her never ending paperwork.

The 1 November meeting for the Training Exercise came up and Liz headed out to London and the MOD. She decided to take the train and found it pretty nice. She got in the previous evening and stayed in a motel in London. She relaxed that night and took a long bath.

She was at the MOD at 0800; she wanted to talk to the Group Captain before the 0900 meeting began. They found a empty small conference room and compared notes.

They found they were much in agreement about the broad parameters. Liz had talked to most of the units involved several times; and all of them at least once. So she felt she had a good handle on it. They discussed the transport matters; the Ramstein 21st Mobility group would be there as well. 352nd SOG sent someone as well. Finally they headed into the main conference room at 0845. Liz took a deep breath; the Group Captain had made it clear this was her show. She walked in and took her seat at the head of the long table. About half the seats were already filled and the front door of the room had people still coming in; she pulled out the briefing kit she had put together; she had made 40 copies and she had a hunch she might be short. She started passing them down both sides of the table.

The briefing paper had the title NO NAME. It said briefly that the object of the training operation was to enhance the combat abilities of the units involved through rapid movement and maneuver. Operations would take place both on Cyprus and around Alayna in Turkey. Operation would begin 9 January and end 30 January. Units would arrive 8 January and leave 31 January. The Turkish units would not come to Cyprus. The other units would stay there for the first week then move to Alayna after that; the 161st would remain as would any other helicopters. Desalination plants would be brought in and would supply water on Cyprus. All transport for units in the UK would be done by 21st Air Mobility group of Ramstein. A POL point would be established at the RAF base on Cyprus.

Once everyone was seated Liz stood up.

"My name is Colonel Elizabeth Parker of the 161st SOAR. My unit will do most of the transportation during the operation. The ground units will need to discuss in detail what they want to do. I want to stress that we need to keep the written orders as brief as possible; the goal of this operation is to make the Battalion commanders and lower think. React. And React again. There will be sudden changes –with no notice. Just as it happens in combat. We are not going to choreograph this like a play; we are going to make our people think. Basically anything goes just like it does in war. No rules. No trying to make it even and make it fair. It is my suggestion that units trade off playing attacker and defender; that way they see both sides of it. We have a lot of units here; so we can mix and match and juggle things. One suggestion was to make up two sides and pick a commander for each side. Balance out the forces so that combat strength is about even. Now as regards my Attack Helicopters there also needs to be a decision made. We can split up but I think having them fight each other would be fun for us but in the end not help the ground units much. We can work to support one side or another during each particular battle – or stay out of it all together. The transport units will be used to move units around or stage assaults; once again that is up to the ground units. So we have a lot to discuss. First let's go around the room and have everyone introduce themselves."

Once everyone had introduced themselves- every regiment had sent not only their commander but their XO as well- Liz stood up again.

"OK now we have names to put with the faces. First thing; do we pick and match two sides and go from there or be more general. Let us have discussion then a vote."

After about half an hour of discussion it was decided two sides was the way to go. Liz stood again.

"OK. Now we need to pick sides for the first week before we go to Turkey. Clearly we need one overall commander on each side."

That got animated; finally the Commandos Brigadier would take one side and the 52nd Brigades Brigadier the other for the first week; then the rest of the time it would be the Turkish Major General and the 19th Brigades Brigadier. The Turkish units would be bolstered by the 52nd Brigade, while the British units would have the Commandos and such. That made things pretty even overall. Liz moved to the large white board and began to write things down. It was a board that went down one whole wall so that was good since it was needed. They broke at noon and would meet back at 1400 to finish it off; a lot had been settled but more needed to be done. Liz asked the Turkish helicopter people and the Brit helicopter people to come with her and the Group Captain, 21st and 352nd SOG for lunch and they could talk things over. The ground units went together to also thrash some details out. There was a small dining hall on the top floor for senior officers and the Group Captain took them there.

Liz enjoyed talking to other rotorheads and they also made plans on how to do things and where and when. The 352nd was quite willing to do refueling all during the operation; and the 21st Mobility group had little to complain about since the agreement had made sure that all units would be picked up at various airfields and that was carefully scheduled. The Supply situation would be handled by one unit of the 21st; they were working with a contractor to use the desalination plants. So they would be in place several days before the troops started to arrive. Liz then turned to the Turkish helicopter commander and asked about where the troops would be staying; it was understood they would be in tents but in that weather it would not be a problem. But water might be; so it was agreed to move 4 of the plants to Alayna where the camp would be. The Turkish army would handle the other details of the camp such as refuse removal, latrines and such. Each unit would bring their own tents and the like. Plus field kitchens. Liz had quietly arranged for a substantial amount of food to be brought in.

Once they all got together at the conference room the ground commanders revealed that they had rough drafted things out; and would send a report to all units. Liz then took over and went over everything already talked about to make sure everyone was clear on it. There were no changes; and everyone seemed to be on the same page of music. A large amount of blank ammunition would be issued and no one expected much to be turned in. The Artillery that would be coming would be used by both sides; the Scots Royal Artillery Battalion would shoot for everyone. Now that the commanders of both sides had been chosen, they would further communicate with each other to figure out what would be done. The Group Captain had supplied the locations that would be used on Cyprus, and the Turkish General had furnished the locations to be used in Turkey. There was no disagreement that nothing other than general objectives would be agreed on; how it was to be done was up to the commanders. Liz then made the point that once the general plan for each engagement was decided, only those on that side would be told. The other side would have to react to it. The Attack Helicopters would be mainly for show; and would be used to threaten the defenders or attackers depending on the scenario. The transport helicopters would be used for deployment or retreat; or for assault. Medical support would come from the RAF who would have dedicated MEDEVAC helicopters; a field hospital would be set up at the RAF base. At 1630 it was seen that just about everything possible had been discussed and the meeting was adjourned. Minutes would be typed up by the RAF Group Captains assistant and distributed to all parties. Liz left and headed back to Scotland on the first train she could get to; making it back by 2000. Thankful it was done and quite optimistic about the operation as a whole.

The next day Liz then took the entire Regiment out for a maneuver; took them out to sea and acting as coordinator made them fly this way and that for over an hour. Then had the crews do as fast a refueling as possible and timed the various crews; the winners got the rest of the day off; the worst crews had to service the best crews chopper.

Then she brought in the officers of each Battalion and had them do war games; given different scenarios what they would do; then pulling in company commanders and giving them command of the Battalion. Then hitting them with what ifs. Then among the crews she started them doing cross training; the idea was that when they were done a Little Bird Crew could refuel and rearm an Apache; a Black Hawk crew could refuel a Chinook; and so on.

With the exception of taking a week off for Thanksgiving, she worked the crews and officers hard for the whole month of November up until the 21st of December when she told them all they were off until 2 January. Except for a couple of platoons here and there on alert; and then switching off the next week; the Regiment was to enjoy the Holidays. Liz kept working on her never ending paperwork, but took time off for Christmas; Ted and Nancy came to visit.

Quite a number of the Regiment went to the States for Holidays; and so it was fairly deserted on base. Liz was able to spend a fair amount of time at home with her family; and to rest up and relax. She made it a point to do that as much as she could since as soon as everyone got back they would be getting ready for the exercise.

The ground scenarios had been pretty filled out and the requests for transport and movement and maneuver had been evenly distributed so that everyone would have plenty to do. There had also been some nighttime scenarios agreed on and that would be interesting. Liz could read between the lines; each side was determined to trick and bedevil the other as much as possible; just like in real combat. She had a feeling it would be an interesting 3 weeks.

More than a few people were very interested on how this exercise turned out. Unheard of for something this big to be done so quickly with so few meetings; so loosely put together. Its title, No Name, was considered a jab at the overly organized large training operations. And since it had been organized by the US Army's rising star, it got more attention.

On 7 January the transports arrived and one after another was filled with helicopters and parts and crews; it started at 0700 and kept right on. Liz was on the first plane and headed out. Jim Harkness would watch over the operation.

It took just under 5 hours to get there; it had been 41 degrees and a light drizzle when they left; it was 72 degrees and Sunny when they landed. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Liz got off her plane and looked around and just smiled. They were the first ones there; met by the RAF Base commander and a Cypriot official. Liz made nice with them as the plane was unloaded. They were coming five planes at a time; each C-17 was able to put in 3 Super Apache's due to the shortened fuselage and an idea from a loadmaster to use off center tie downs allowing them to shoe horn in an extra bird. They had 15 C-17's and 8 C-5B's; the C-5's would make two trips to take all the Chinooks and Little Birds. The first flight of C-17's would take all the Apache's plus some of the Black Hawks. One more flight would be needed and a third flight by the C-5B's that could take two Black Hawks shoe horned in. This took until 1100 the next day to get them all there. In the meantime the remaining Transport Aircraft were picking up the British units; what took the time there was loading the Brit Helicopters; the rest of the units were pretty much walk ins. By 1700 on 8 January everyone was there from all the units.

The initial camp was basically from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to almost the flight line; row upon row of tents. Almost 14,000 personnel in all. 1500 from the Commandos; 1800 Royal Marines; 1600 Para's; 300 SAS and SBS; 4000 from 19 Brigade and 3800 from 52 Brigade. The numbers were higher than originally thought due to the support personnel involved. Virtually the entire regular duty Royal Marine Corps was there; most of the Para's and almost half of the Commandos. For 19 and 52 brigades it was very important training as they had not had any training as complete brigades for several years; with the inevitable turnover almost half of their personnel had never trained with one another.

A meeting was held in the large command tent that the Royal Marines had brought with them. Last minute changes were passed around and plans for the first day finalized. The first scenario would have the Commandos and Royal Marines plus 52nd Brigade against the Paras, SBS, SAS and 19 Brigade. First group would be positioned and the second group would attack. In each day the Attack Helicopters would support the forces attempting to take back ground seized by the aggressors. That would be the first two days; then would come a series of assaults by all forces one group at a time dropped into the area and marching to attack another. That would last two days. Then the SBS and SAS would have a night of assaults; then the Commandos would followed by the Royal Marines and Paras; and finally the 19th and 52nd Brigades. On the eighth day all would be taken to the new camp in Alayna.

Liz was basically an observer most of the time; she took her Apache around and watched everything or would sit at the objective and watch them that way. She took a lot of notes; learning a lot about ground warfare by watching some of the best in the world practice it. She allowed her company commanders a lot of leeway; the Battalion Commanders were also mostly observers.

The weather stayed beautiful; not cooler than 50 degrees at night nor warmer than 74 degrees at day and clear and dry. The Desalination plants pumped out huge amounts of water that was mostly used up; but a fair amount each day was pumped into the reservoirs nearby. So Cyprus would have more water when they left then when they arrived.

The 8th day came and they rested for the morning and packed up; and moved to Alayna starting after noon. Between all the available choppers (the turks came in at night so no one would notice them) they got the whole force to Alayna by midnight. Liz's Black Hawks and Chinooks could take, for the short distance they needed to go, 900 troops a go. Each flight lasted about 30 minutes; so they were able to before refueling each do 8 flights in a little over 9 hours; the 352nd SOG had all their tankers there refueling everyone. The Turkish and British choppers together could move 800; and they made 6 trips but could not be refueled by air. But in the end they got it done as Liz had hoped.

It was hilly and had lots of trees, where they were camped near Alayna. It was a beautiful area. Liz and the 161st stayed at Cyprus since there was no airfield nearby the camps. Liz had toyed with the idea of basically having a combat temp field but the terrain was not really suited for it; and she figured her crews were roughing it as it was. Though she intended sometime in the future to do just that.

The Turkish General had come up with some very interesting possibilities; and Liz liked that he left some things vague. During the time on Cyprus Liz and the overall commanders had thrown a few twists and turns in things at the last minute; making everyone scramble to react. The General had some built in and used them ruthlessly; catching the Commandos in one trap that had them scrambling to pull out. The SBS got even by having some Little Birds bring them right in and capture his HQ. Then in tit for tat the Turks had other Little Birds capture the 19th Brigade HQ. The Royal Scots Artillery were carted all over firing everywhere. They moved 12 times in 5 days; then at least once a day every day after that. They had found that a Black Hawk could carry one of their Howitzers and used that to surprise the Royal Marines one day and the Turks the next.

Finally on the 29th, that afternoon, it was decided that everyone was worn out and that was enough. A massive party was thrown by the Turkish army and it was a serious blow out. A fun time was had by all. There would be no early wake up the next morning and just about everyone needed the extra sleep.

As it turned out the 352nd SOG had been assigned by SOCOM to have Predators up filming everything. And they did manage to capture just about all of it; SOCOM had copies made and sent to every unit involved; it would be valuable training film for a long time to come. Liz and the Turkish General had been the only ones told about it. Everyone else found out when the video tapes arrived.

Getting up the next morning Liz was sad to leave this beautiful weather; but that was the way it was. While most were tearing down; the senior officers had gathered for one last meeting. Liz was glad to see how relaxed everyone was with each other; some friendships had been made that would last a long time; and ties with the Turkish Military had been straightened quite a bit. Everyone seemed very satisfied that the training had been a big help to their units. The 19th and 52nd Brigade commanders each told Liz that they had learned a lot about their units; not all of it good but all of it valuable. Then one last time the helicopters got together and got everyone back to Cyprus; just as the first transports showed up; it had been decided to send the brits back first and the 161st would go back the next day. That night after the last transport left it was very quiet; the crews had already prepared the birds; and all they had to do was push them up the ramps into the transports. So everyone got a good nights sleep.

The next morning the first transports got in at 0800 and the first ten were off by 0900. Liz made sure she was on the last plane as it left at 1400 the next day the next day and got in at 2000. She got back to her quarters at 2300. And fell into bed. She roused herself at 0700 and managed to make it to the office. She looked around and realized that only those that had been on the first flights were in; but that was ok. Everyone needed some rest. She put it out that they would have the Regimental Officer critique at 0900 the next day; the enlisted men at 1300.

Liz had been glad to see that her new Chinook company commander had done well. The Little Birds had done very well; both company commanders had shown very good ability to respond to the unexpected things that had gone their way. Liz had tried to toss as many as she could at them. She had been gratified at how everyone had been pretty good at responding to changes that came from the blue; a few mistakes had been made but they were not bad ones. Overall she was VERY happy with the effort and results the 161st had shown.

The SOCOM commander finished watching the film; they had spent most of the day going over it. His entire staff had been there as well. He looked at them.

"Comments?"

His Chief of Staff stirred. "I cannot remember the last time so many different things were tried in so short a time. Seemed like there was a competition."

The Aviation Chief nodded. "Seemed that way to me as well; she really put her people through a grinder."

SOCOM agreed. "There was not much else they could have done that they did not; just about everything except a Parachute drop was done there."

His G4 mused. "I did not think a Black Hawk could pick up that artillery like it did; we need to keep that in mind in the future; though I imagine the range would not be all that great. And they were going too slow for aerial refueling. But still that is something to remember."

The SF colonel in the meeting was pensive. "There were some things tried there that look very interesting; the Turks really got creative."

SOCOM agreed. "Clearly there were no rules there; anything went. Which is frankly how training exercises need to be more often."

The Deputy SOCOM mused "There are a lot of people who upon reading the glowing reports you are going to hear from probably every unit that this very unstructured type of operation is so good to have, are going to really get worried. They see their carefully scripted training missions being scrapped in favor of the Wild West."

SOCOM grinned. "The overall cost was quite low as well; well below any previous one of this size. When you add how successful it was; how much the units liked it; the speed it was put together; and the relatively little planning that was done for it, this could be a model."

At every single HQ of every unit involved this was the song that was sung. And when other units heard it; they wanted to be able to sing one as well.

There was some down time after the Cyprus exercise; it had been pretty intense and everyone was tired; and the Choppers needed maintenance.

One of Jim Harkness's duties was to keep his ears open and to prod SOCOM G2 for information on anything that looked likely to involve the Regiment. In other words, where things might be getting hot any time soon. Luckily SOCOM had made it plain for a long time that the SOAR regiment got tuned in to anything that looked likely; any warning was a good thing.

Not all the news was bad when it came in; sometimes good news was shared as well. With the all but formal treaty with the Taliban by the Afghan government, official anti-Taliban operations were stopped. Now that did not mean covert operations ended. BUT since SF was forbidden by law from covert activities, they and the SOAR regiments were no longer to be deployed. What actually happened was that the CIA and their covert section –with assistance from SF personnel that were attached to them- a very gray area indeed (legally speaking) would now continue the anti Al Queda operations in Afghanistan and the tribal regions of Pakistan. Rumors were increasing that Osama Ben Laden had been dead for a while- his so called statements were pretty much figured to be old ones recycled-and what was left of the Al Queda leadership was in hiding and still a target. But it was no longer as important as it had been. SO baring something changing the 161st would not be sending any units there. However since the 161st was now the only aviation brigade outside the US, except for the one in Korea which was firmly dedicated there, it would be expected to support any US missions in its assigned area.

The bottom line was that SOCOM would no longer be the sole boss of the 161st; the technical line of command still went through there. But now CENTCOM, EUCOM, AFRICOM all could call on the 161st to support any mission. That had been intimated publicly before but it had been more of a smoke screen. Now it was not. And the tightened budgets everywhere meant a lot of people were looking for ways to stretch their operational and training budgets. While not exactly a gun for hire, in practical terms that might not be far off for the 161st. Since they were already closer than any US Aviation brigade, they would be called first on anything concerning Europe, the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and Africa.

Liz accepted this as the reality of the world; no use complaining. One rumble that she did not like was the one that suggested one of her Battalions be stationed at Ramstein, in order to be closer to any place of expected need; and right with transport assets. Liz was determined to fight this one tooth and nail; a battalion by itself could go rogue, so to speak. And they could not train in Germany like they could in Scotland; too congested in both ground training areas and air space. So far it had only been some muttering that did not seem to have the support to be pushed through; but she knew that it had to be watched. There had been talk of giving her another assault/transport battalion of Black Hawks and Chinooks; but she knew that then the pressure to put it at Ramstein would be very hard to resist. The only way to keep their training up and also prevent them getting too independent would be to rotate a battalion there every six months or so; but that would be lousy for families.

SOCOM was quite aware of the rumblings and had decided that he needed to talk things over with his new command; so he quietly came over for a quick conference the week after the Cyprus operation finished. He landed at night and left the next evening; so no one really knew he was there. It was a little cloak and dagger but he did enjoy stirring things up. He stayed in the VIP quarters and thus no one really saw him. Liz and Colonel Harkness visited him there. He started things off.

"First let me congratulate you on that training operation; it went very well and you will get credit for most of it. Frankly, a lot of people are not very happy at how well it went. You planned it minimally; quickly; and cheaply. All things that are not supposed to work well. So now there will be a lot of pressure by the bean counters for others to do the same. Those that like their major training exercises planned a year in advance with many expensive meetings and strictly choreographed are going to be forced to do more with less. Which is a good thing in my book; it was getting ridiculous."

Liz blushed slightly. "Thank you, Sir."

"It is well deserved and enough of that. Now for the rumblings about Ramstein; this has been tossed around by EUCOM; but at the moment it has insufficient support to go anywhere. I agree with your reasons for opposing it. The trouble that the 160th had with their battalion at McCord Lewis just underlines the fact that your worry is not unfounded. It will almost certainly be moved back to Campbell as the battalion from Georgia will as well. The pressure to give you a fourth battalion is increasing; especially since many think that you already have too much of the hot spots and potential hot spots in your area of responsibility. Needless to say, once you get a fourth; and I think that it will happen; fighting that move will be a lot harder. The GOOD news there is that the germans are getting more restrictive about their airspace and what you can do there; so your training worries will be easier to substantiate. So with any luck at all in a year or so when you get that fourth you should be able to keep it with the other 3."

"That is good news sir. We have the room here; one of the design parameters was in case we got a fourth battalion."

"Sometimes we get lucky. Enough of that as well. Now as regards the potential for being tasked by the other three commands: it will happen, there is no doubt of that. What will be will be. BUT the good news there is that we can tap them for funds for training; in addition to your normal budget. The BAD news is that they will expect you to do more training in Europe and elsewhere."

"Actually Sir, that is not so bad. The weather was great in Cyprus."

"Well training in the Sahara in mid-summer or the Balkans in winter will not be as nice."

"Granted; but I think the more different areas and more different units and nationalities we train with the easier it will be to keep my command sharp and not let it get complacent."

SOCOM nodded; he really expected no less of her.

"Fair enough. Now I know that you have Colonel Harkness here constantly on my G2 to warn of anything suspected of coming your way; and that is a good thing. But of course a lot of the time something comes up with little or no warning at all. So I hope you do not count too heavily on what you hear."

"No sir. But I figure any information on anything is better than nothing."

"OK, I buy that. One thing there is a greater possibility of you being tasked with is more humanitarian operations. There is a push now from the DOD for us to show our kinder and gentler natures; and I guess I do not have too much against that in this case. Just that you train your people to search and destroy; and not act as peace keepers. But since you will be strictly transport and escort that should not be too much of a problem. Those that you put on the ground will have most of the responsibility. But it might be something that you keep in mind for training your attack units."

Liz sighed but nodded. She really did not want to go down that road but orders were orders and she knew it was a possibility. She made a mental note to discuss this with her battalion commanders.

"Now I do not have anything like a crystal ball; but I think the most likely areas you will end up sending your people into are still the usual suspects; the middle east and southwest asia. But I also think that the likelihood is less than it has been in a long time. Things are still unstable in Morocco, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. But the probability is that you will not go there. Iraq is also unlikely; and Afghanistan seems stable enough that you will not have to worry about it. Pakistan seems to be doing better and that is good. Though Ultimate Checkmate is still something to keep in mind."

Liz shivered a little at that very secret and dire potential operation. It was the seizure by force of the Pakistani nuclear arsenal if it looked like Pakistan would come apart or a fundamentalist government came into power. She had been briefed on it when she went to Afghanistan the last time with her Super Apaches. That was one she hoped never saw the light of day.

"Now for the areas that are more possible. The Balkans are still a mess; but the Europeans are determined to prove that they can handle it. But the possibility is that you would have to support them. So keep it in mind. I will not bother talking about the Russians; if they start anything they first pretty much have to take out the Ukraine and that will take them a while; long enough for us to move real force into Europe. So let us just skip by them. To be brutally honest I would be more worried about the situations in Western Europe than Russia: with all their economies still not recovered from the debt crisis and the near fall of the Euro, and more of their native populations disliking the immigrants more and more, adding to that the muslim sections becoming more militant; things could happen in France, Denmark, Belgium, Spain or Italy. Eastern Europe is in better shape. Of course you getting involved in any of those areas would be a case of pulling our citizens out then anything else. Once again the humanitarian part. The rather constant rumblings from some of the old soviet republics are once again something you need to look at more in the case of pulling our people out; and our friends as well. Turkey seems ok; the Kurds are not doing anything more than usual and the near autonomous area they have in northern Iraq has taken a good part of the steam out of the separatists. Africa once again is more a get our people out worry; we are not getting involved in Somalia again and there is nothing else really we care about down there. South Africa since the African National Congress lost power has settled down more than we had hoped."

Liz looked at him as he paused, eyebrow up. He smiled slightly.

"OK. Our number one worry of course has been for a while and will continue to be Iran. While their nuclear program is still stalled due to our little monkey wrenches, they still seem bent on getting some. Now the ability to miniaturize them to the point of being able to get them on a missile would be some years after they get a bomb, but we still are more than likely going to try and take it out. The popular protests have been stamped on; but as usual that just makes them more harder and meaner. Does not end it. The Israelis are absolutely determined that they never get a bomb and I do not blame them; even with the wack job no longer the President it is clear the Mullahs still have the power. It is more than likely we will help them get it done but at the same time we still have the contingency plans to help them out. Which in the end would mean putting people on the ground to make sure that the centers are toast. We would parachute them in but getting them out would be your job. Needless to say it would not be easy. The other part is if there is a civil war; unless they are close to getting bombs we would stay out of it in all probability. At least I hope we do. They are still trying to finance various trouble makers but that is the Company's problem not ours."

Liz nodded; staying out of any civil war is always the best idea.

"So there you pretty much have it. That is the situation as it is at the moment; which means it could change tomorrow. Anyway, you will undoubtedly start getting more requests for training with more of the European militaries; and some of the Middle Eastern ones as well. Turkey really liked what you set up last time and will want to do it again. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and the gulf states will probably want some as well but I am looking at sending some of the 160th to do that; they have very little to do and less reason to train hard."

Liz blinked a little at that; and then cocked her head and looked at SOCOM.

"This goes nowhere but this room; is that clear?"

Liz and Jim nodded.

"The new commander of the 160th as you know is very raw to the SOAR; losing the last one we did to that accident that put him out of the army really hurt; we had no one to replace him. And unfortunately I am coming to the opinion that he might not be up to the job; he has decreased the training frequency to a point I do not like. So that is why I am going to send part of his people to the middle east. I am looking for a replacement and I want to see if any of his battalion commanders look like they can get it done."

Liz sat back and thought about that. Right before Christmas the 160th Commander had been hit by a drunk driver and the injuries had put him out of the military; his XO took over but he was brand new to SOAR. And if early word was any indication, backed by what SOCOM had just said, he would not be there long. Problem was that they just did not have many senior enough people in SOAR. A situation that had given her problems as well. There usually were not all that many officers above the rank of captain in the SOAR. Either one. Now there were former SOAR officers here and there at a higher rank, but usually they had left for their own reasons. So she imagined that SOCOM was looking hard at them to see if he could get one back. But that would not necessarily work. It took a certain kind of officer to run a SOAR; she knew that now. And it was now clear to her that she had been groomed for a couple of years to take the 161st. But there were no relief pitchers in the bullpen. She did not envy SOCOM. Those that had commanded the SOAR in the past were either out of the military or now too senior to take it over. She looked at SOCOM.

"Really your only short term option is to give it to your Aviation Chief until a new one is trained up and ready."

SOCOM nodded. He was not surprised that she had quickly figured out the only real option he had.

There were some other minor details to discuss but that was the meat of the meeting. He talked to Liz about the Cyprus and Turkey training and gave her a copy of the Predator tapes. She would find that useful in the future as regards rating her Battalion commanders. Also it would help her plan future training operations.

Over the next few weeks Liz fielded training requests from several more British regiments; and was looking at arranging another fairly large one in the UK early in the spring to take care of them. And she started to get some requests from Spain and other mainland countries. Greece being one; which was no surprise; since she had trained with the Turks the Greeks wanted equal treatment; and she knew that it was a must. An evil idea occurred to her and she sent a quiet Email to SOCOM about it; pushing EUCOM into funding it. Take some of the regiments from England and go to Greece. Take some others and go to Spain. SOCOM sent back that she should make a formal request for multiple Major Command support for them. Which meant he would support her. So she got Jim and they worked the next two days, calling the various British Regiments and giving them a general time frame- she was looking at late March. Jim contacted the Spanish and they agreed with the place proposed. The treaty to return Gibraltar to Spanish control while maintaining a British base there had eased things between the two countries. It would be the start of that operation that would be interesting; the 161st would pick up a Battalion of British troops and their equipment and then launch an assault on a position held by Spanish troops. Then they would do it the other way. Meanwhile the Spanish helicopters would be working with the 161st on training on rapid assaults on various types of terrain. The whole exercise would involve 3 British regiments and 3 Spanish regiments and their Air Assault units. As was being usually done the US would transport the British troops; the 161st would do that in two days. A POL point would established to fuel all helicopters.

The exercises went off well; once again Liz got with the commanders for both sides and they agreed on a very unstructured operation. The Apache's and Little Birds did not have much to do; and Liz felt it was time to work them hard; so with permission from the Spanish, they used a Air Force bombing range to live fire all weapons. Liz had them at it for two days and they shot off a lot of ordnance. The Tiger attach helicopters of the Spanish forces also participated; they had become operational not long ago and were green. So Liz in her Super Apache led platoons of them in maneuvers and firing on the go; that lasted two more days. Liz would fire at a target and they raced to hit the same target; forcing them to move and shoot fast. They were ragged the first few hours; but after the second day Liz took them out for some night shooting and they did very well. The Spanish general in charge extravagantly thanked Liz for showing them how it was done. By not telling them what she was going to do, she forced them to read and react; a different way than they had been training. General Morales flat out told his training officer he was not doing it right and relieved him the first day. Liz ended up staying three extra days after the 161st left to help the Spanish re write their attack helicopter training program.

Two months later she got a very nice thank you from General Morales; they had just had a exercise witnessed by the King and the Attach Helicopters had surprised the Army unit by their ability to move fast and shoot fast and hit their targets; the army expected them to hover when firing and were unable to respond effectively. The King complimented the General and he straight out told the King that she had made it possible. A letter of Appreciation was hand delivered to Liz by the Spanish Ambassador to England. As well as an invitation to a formal Royal dinner celebrating the Spanish Military later that year. Liz accepted; one more time in the Mess Dress.

The NATO training missions began to add up; Italy, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary sent in requests. The Greek Operation would be first; in early May. Then Liz was looking at doing the three Balkan countries in one go. Italy next.

The Greek training mission was solely with Greek forces; their Army air assault units, their Marines and two chosen Army battalions. Once again it was the case of the 161st training them up. The exercise lasted three days and all were satisfied. The Greek general in command wanted to see what the Little Birds could do and with the Greek Commandos they did; they captured his HQ that night. In some ways it was very relaxing for Liz.

Things changed in the combined Balkan training mission; Hungary asked to be done separately. Liz was informed by SOCOM G2 that their budget was a problem and they did not want to look bad in front of the Romanians and Bulgarians. So Liz took the 161st to Hungary first and three days later to Bulgaria where they trained with both Army and transport units.

Hungary did have problems; Liz was at her diplomatic best and managed to get things done anyway. They spent 3 full days working with just about their entire Army; assaults and movements and all sorts of things. They were noticeably more able when the 161st left.

Romania and Bugaria were easy in comparison; they still had things to learn but their budgets allowed more training so the basics did not have to be relearned.

Italy was next; in July; but it was in the mountains so it was not so bad. Italy had a very well trained military and the exercises were less about teaching then trying to stretch each other. When they got back from the 5 days there; Liz told the unit to get some rest. The near constant training over the last 6 months had worn them down; so Liz had blocked out all of August for basically rest and relaxation.

She got back from Italy to be told the fourth battalion would stand up in October; the equipment was transferred in from one of the Aviation Brigades that had been disbanded. The Personnel were in training with the SOAR training battalion at Campbell; they had been working on the people since March.

She looked over the personnel files of the officers she would get; luckily the Battalion commander came from the 160th where he had been an XO. But only a handful of the rest were already SOAR. It would be a green battalion. But so be it.

Trouble started to brew in Late July. The Euro crisis started up again when Germany flat out said they would not put any more money into the effort; enough was enough. Since they were the main backer, that sent shockwaves everywhere. Interestingly the countries that had all started the problem back in 2008, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Greece had more or less shaped up; Greece was still a problem but it was under control. Now it was Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark who were in the worst shape. Un restrained social spending had not been cut as much as needed and they had raised taxes which had caused more capital flight. France was openly pushing their Muslim population to leave; that had gotten ugly but the French Military and Police had so far maintained control. Calls for sanctions against France had mostly fizzled; the interesting part was that France and the US had better relations now then they had had for a long time.

As was to be expected the immigrants were the first to catch the heat; and beatings and demonstrations began to spread just as the continent entered the period of greatest heat. A bad combination.

France's government; a more hard core and nationalistic one then had been seen in many years; also refused to put more money into the Euro. It called for countries to have austerity budgets and get things under control. Germany had also gone to the right and was saying they were no longer going to bail out the Euro.

The US, which had been pretty quiet in this, mostly played the calming influence as much as possible; even though the immediate effects were better for the US economy, which had had a couple of very good years recently. The more stringent budgets and at last capping spending on Medicare and Welfare, along with the first real cuts in the Federal government, had gone a long way towards removing the deficit. This was the first year that there was real hope that the budget would be balanced by the end of the year. Contrary to many predictions by the more liberal political figures, less government spending had not had the disastrous effect they had hoped would happen. It had been tough on the US Military, but true reforms in spending and heavy cuts in overhead (The Pentagon had been cut in half as regards personnel) had helped a lot. The real problem had been the commercial real estate crisis that had started in 2011 and gone through 2012. It had finally started to ease in 2013 and had helped speed the recovery.

China as usual tried to find a opportunity to expand its influence by offering loans at low rates to the country's most in trouble. Not that China was doing all that well; the pollution effects had finally forced them to start working hard at controlling it and they were finding out how much that cost. Several natural disasters had also drained their huge savings accounts; added to which millions were demanding better public services. But they as usual saw a chance to get more international influence and made their move. The country's needed money and looked for it from China; but then found out there were strings attached. They had to grant concessions to Chinese firms. Desperate left wing governments took the money and then found out that their people did not like it. This happened at the beginning of August just in time for another heat wave to hit.

Liz walked to her quarters; it was just after five that Wednesday afternoon. It was unseasonably warm; it was almost 75. Which for this area was a heatwave; much to the amusement of the Americans. But farther south in England it was getting towards 80. And higher in some areas. Which for a country that had very little air conditioning, but lots of humidity, made things very uncomfortable. But it was still not as bad as it was on the Continent. There temps of 85-90 were hitting.

Liz had had Jim keep an eye on things; with the current crisis plus the heat she wanted no surprises. He called her that evening.

"Colonel, sorry to bother you but some Flash traffic just came in."

"That is OK Jim at least I finished dinner. Poor Max will have to do the dishes."

Liz went into the Communication room and signed for the Flash Traffic; she then had to use her own decoder for her to read it. This did not happen often; usually it meant an intelligence update; but to use Flash, the highest priority and security, meant it was important.

She took the pages of gibberish and went to her office; opened her safe, took out her code book and since this was the modern Army was able to use her computer to decode and print it out; the program was such that as soon as it printed it was erased in every way from the computer.

It was an intelligence update and made for very worrying reading.

She read it once, then again then sat and thought for a while. Then looked at the clock; it was almost 9 PM. She decided to lock it in her safe and talk to Jim about it the next morning. She went back home and tried to forget it for the evening.

At 0730 the next morning she buzzed Jim to stop by. When he came in she motioned for him to shut the door; she then opened her safe and handed him the message. It was several pages long so it took him awhile to read it all. He finally looked up at her.

"OK, this is not good. Question is how does it affect us?"

"If the EU collapses, which is what they think might happen, then it could get very ugly. England has some edges in that they still have the pound and they are separated from the continent. So our immediate situation is not a problem. BUT the upheaval could get very nasty and guess what: SOCOM warned us about having to evacuate people. The governments that took the Chinese money are incredibly unpopular at the moment; there could be massive rioting in the streets there. France and Germany are probably the only two countries that could be expected to not go up in smoke; France because they already have their military deployed and Germany because their economy is doing OK. Eastern Europe would not see the effects for a while. Greece could be a worry because the unions are still butt hurt about the austerity programs. Belgium, Netherlands and Denmark had the most give aways that have been taken away. The good news is that there are not a lot of weapons there. My question would be what if the military and police just quit as well. If things collapse none of them get paid. And that could spread most places. We could have the whole continent bubbling.

He nodded slowly. "So what do we do?"

"Good news is that there are no training missions currently scheduled; not for a month. And those only relatively local ones with British regiments. So for the moment we will cancel any leaves that have anyone going to the continent; get the word out. And anyone going to the US, warn them they could be next. We might need everyone."

Liz sat in her office after he left; she put the message in the safe. It had gone into detail why they thought this was possible; and it made sense. But they also figured that the Europeans would do just about anything to keep things from collapsing. So odds were some kind of deal would be made. Liz was not so sure; she had made a point of having the newspapers (in English) delivered from Paris, Berlin, Rome, Brussels, etc. She had been reading them and the message had not surprised her all that much. A lot of people in Germany were very fed up paying the freight for the other countries; and the amount of social spending was too high. 'Cradle to Grave' sounded great in a campaign speech; but paying for it was another matter. Add to that the choking regulations that Brussels had cranked out each year to add to the rest.

She decided that brooding about it was not helpful and went back to her paper work.

The next couple of days saw more tension as Germany made it absolutely clear that they were Not going to give in to entreaties to bail out the Euro. As expected that started getting comments from other countries about greedy germans. Then some started saying Germany owed it to Europe. Their Chancellor had this to say:

"Germany no longer owes a debt for WW2. That has been paid many times over. Germany has the responsibility for Germany first and then other nations."

The far left Green party screamed about this; but their influence had waned with the Euro. And a new poll showed 65% of Germans wanting shut of the Euro and the EU.

That seemed to really start things going. France announced that they were leaving the Eurozone, which meant giving up on the Euro. They would be going back to the Franc. Like dominoes over the next few days country after country abandoned the Euro and went back to their old currencies. The UK just said that they were saddened about this and would maintain the pound. In one week the Euro was dead.

Needless to say that caused a ruckus. Surprisingly to some, there were no mass demonstrations about people angry about leaving the EU. There were attempts to organize them, but were met with either indifference or downright hostility.

Each country was stuck with the dilemma: what should be the official exchange rate for people turning in their EURO's for new currency. Not that this would happen overnight. It would take weeks if not months before enough of the currencies were made to even start an exchange. Meanwhile the EURO still had to be used. The countries all agreed that they would be used until 1 Jan 2015.

Gold, silver, Dollars, the British Pound; all were in demand as people tried to get rid of their Euro's. Gold which had dropped below $800 an ounce sky rocketed back to the records set in 2011; over $1600 an ounce. Silver hit $50 an ounce. The US Dollar strengthened hugely; the British pound was not far behind. Many banks refused to exchange money.

China, despite the rebuff, tried again to gain influence by attempting to make deals with countries that still had their own currencies; like much of eastern Europe. Once again loans with strings; and this time the governments wisely turned up their noses. The Chinese government was all very puzzled about this.

The media was on this like stink on a skunk. Talking heads blathering everywhere about everything. Saying very little that meant anything to people on the street.

Also one after another governments fell. Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium first; but Italy's and Portugal's next, not a surprise since they had been coalition ones anyway. Spain wavered but held on. Ireland as well. Some EU types, still not getting it, tried to schedule an emergency summit to try and save the EU and the Eurozone. It failed miserably as most governments did not even bother to respond and those that did rejected it. It was accepted that the EU was an idea that had failed. And that was that. The massive EU bureaucracy was the first to get fired; 170,000 were told they were done that next week since there was no money to pay them and no job for them to do. Germany's Bundestag formally voted by 4-1 to leave the EU and Eurozone. France was next. Spain and Ireland followed in days.

Belgium took the biggest immediate hit with the firing of the EU mob. Of course many of them would return to their home countries; but it was still a big group of suddenly jobless people.

Brutal humor started to appear. When one commentator wondered if they would riot, another one pointed out that there were no manuals or regulations regarding how to riot so there was no worry.

While Liz was glad to see that so far, 10 days into it, there were no massive riots and the like, it was still not good. Every country had put their military on higher alert. In many cities riot police were a virtually permanent sight. Now that each country would be thrown on their own resources, things were starting to come to light. Pundits and so called experts started to make predictions.

This was all eclipsed as on 15 August France announced that they would start to deport illegal immigrants to their countries of origin. Forcibly and they would start coming the immigrant areas for them. Things started to get ugly and rioting by immigrants started and were brutally put down with tear gas and beatings.

Morocco said they would not take any and France said they were getting them whether they liked it or not. Turkey was more realistic and said they would but they would be put in camps to sort out. Many Muslims that could bought tickets to their old countries and got out.

That of course started to stoke problems in the Middle East. Turkey seemed OK at the moment but that remained to be seen over the longer run. Eastern European immigrants headed back there which would be a strain on them but the numbers were not huge. The first plane loads of them arriving in Morocco and elsewhere were not covered by the media simply because the governments refused to allow it.

The UN was pretty much out of it since France would veto anything the Security Council tried to do; and the General Assembly was useless.

Some Pollyanna's thought that since there had been no huge riots or the like that things would settle down. They refused to acknowledge the fact that a very critical even had occurred.

Russia meanwhile watched all this with barely hidden glee. They were figuring that they would gain from all this. They had never been particularly comfortable with what was virtually a super state building on their borders. Then someone in the Russian government did the math and realized that since all their arrangements had been in Euro's with all the European countries they were going to have to get down to it as well. The oil and gas industry in Russia, the great engine that kept the country going, had been starved of investment. Production of both were going down and no end was in sight. Increased defense spending was another huge drain and deficits were jumping. To a neutral observer it would seem that Russia would need to get its own house in order but that would have been ignored by the Russian government anyway.

Those that think coincidences can happen were bolstered by the events that began in China. Earthquakes and floods had been unusually damaging then came the big one; a 7.5 right near the huge Three Gorges Dam. The whole world turned away from Europe to watch the huge dam crack and fail. The flood was called Biblical and it was. 1 million died or were swept away. 10 million were homeless. The loss of electric power was immense; and meant that China would have to start up coal fired plants they had mothballed. The cost of all this was estimated at $1 trillion dollars. China would be concentrating on its own wellbeing for some time to come.

With the big money bag now out of the discussion, Europe returned to its own problems. The week that everyone had been watching China had given the European governments some breathing room. Since the EU was dead and everyone knew it, now each country had to start doing things like border control and immigration and the like. Some of the displaced EU personnel started to find jobs. It seemed like things might not be so bad after all.

6 weeks after the first governments fell, elections began to happen. Now it was seen that having them that fast was probably not the best idea but the pressure was on to get new people in. The results were as expected. In one country after another the right wing parties got into power. And they began to cut spending.

The forced repatriation France did was nothing to what happened when the overpaid underworked bureaucrats started to get fired or told to make things better. They began to strike. The Governments, fresh from political victories, fired them. Which did nothing to calm things down. They began to riot, joined by other disaffected types. The governments, seeing their police were outmanned, called in their militaries. In Brussels and elsewhere it was messy and bloody.

Liz had put the 161st on alert as soon as the riots had begun. She was alerted by SOCOM that taskings to bring people out would come through the State Department. Liz called the 352nd SOG and alerted them they might need refueling. Liz then talked to her base ops people and had them start getting prepared for a lot of people staying there. Material and supplies were ordered from the US. The good thing was that many US citizens had already gotten out of Europe. But Liz knew she might be pulling other nations citizens out so that might not mean all that much.

The first alert from the State department came the very next morning. They wanted all their people out of Brussels. They were closing the embassy. The rioting appeared to pause for a bit and Liz moved. She sent in every Black Hawk she had to Melsbroek Air Base and went with them; leaving her Apache behind. She felt that was not a good thing to have around at the moment. 50 Black Hawks, from the 4th Battalion as well even though they had not yet technically stood up, landed and waited. Liz got a predator up, courtesy of the Belgian Army, and looked the situation near the embassy over. There was riots not far away, but they were not too bad. She called the ambassador.

"Ambassador, this is Colonel Parker. Ready when you are."

"Right now would be good, Colonel."

"We will be there in 20 minutes sir. So you have a count?"

"237 people so far. But more might show up."

"Very well. May I speak to your marine commander for details?"

"Of Course, here he is."

"Major Haywood here, Colonel. Do you have a picture of the Embassy?"

"Actually I have a predator up right now looking at it live. If you want to step out the door you can wave to us."

"That will work. I am on a satellite phone so I will be coming out the entrance at the side. Heading there now. I am out the door and waving to you."

"I see you. Where do you want us to land?"

"The clear area I am standing in right now. We should be able to get 3 in at a time."

"Looks doable; I will be in the first one."

"Be watching for you, Colonel."

Liz looked at her commanders. "Just like the plan. A Company first; I will call once the first batch are off and the last ones are landing. B Company next. And so on until all are gone." Then she looked at the others. "We are taking them right to Ramstein." She also reminded them to make sure all passengers had the hearing protection they had brought with them.

Then before she got into the lead Blackhawk, she called Ramstein. They had been waiting and they let her know they would be ready.

Flying over Brussels the smoke from the rioting was very dense. It was only ten minutes flying time to the Embassy. She landed with two others and got out to take the Salute from the Marine Major who took her to meet the Ambassador.

"Good day, Ambassador. Is the first group ready?"

"Good day, colonel. They are. All are going to Ramstein?"

"Yes sir. They are waiting."

"Very well. My family and I will be the last ones out just before the Marines."

She nodded. That was usual. She watched as the civilians flowed out and into each of the black hawks. She noted with approval that they were organized 12 at a time. It took only 5 minutes to load the first three. She was quietly surprised as nothing went wrong and they had everyone but the Marines and the Ambassador and his wife and herself out. The last Black Hawk came in and she and the Ambassador and the Marine Major and the last 6 men of his unit got in. She called the rest of the unit and told them to head home. It was a little over an hour to fly to Ramstein. Once there she had the Black Hawk refueled and then led the whole group back to Scotland.

Brussels seemed to be the only city that had really bad rioting; there were others around but nothing that bad. 3 'A' teams of Green Berets had become guests of Liz's; just in case they had to go and get some more elsewhere. Brussels had not been bad but the decision upstairs was that she needed some there just in case.

Every morning Liz had a meeting with the senior Captain of the 3 teams, Jim, and the head of her small intelligence section. The current situation was looked over and discussed.

5 days after Brussels, the situation in France took a turn for the worse when the French President was assassinated. A car bomb took him and a good part of his cabinet out at a PR event outside of Paris. The event had only been publicized hours before he appeared so the odds were that it had gotten leaked. The head of the Senate assumed office and would rule until a new election. France went on National Alert. Martial Law was declared and a dusk to dawn curfew was put in place. France then sealed its borders and would not let anyone in or out. All airports were shut down as was the Chunnel and all trains and roads blocked.

A left wing group claimed responsibility but no one knew if it meant anything. Sentiment turned very definitely against immigrants when it was found that the driver had been a Turk. Several others detained quickly thereafter consisted of all immigrants or far left activists. Many had been forced out already but now they were being chased out.

Liz and her small group looked the situation over. SOCOM called and informed her that they might have to go in and take the Ambassador out. Forcibly. Liz kind of doubted it; she had a good source of information. Her good friend the group captain had another good friend who was a general in the French air force, and they stayed in touch. The troops around all embassy's were to make sure no one tried to get asylum. No more. Until they were sure they had all those involved France was locked down. Liz called SOCOM and without mentioning names described her source. Then she was told something she had not known; that the Ambassador to France was a close personal friend of the US President. So that made things a little tighter. With that in mind Liz contacted the Group Captain and asked if he could get him to talk to her directly. He called back an hour later and told her that the General only called one number; and she needed to be in London. So she got a black hawk and was there in a little over an hour and a half.

The Group captain made a call which was to another officer. He would talk to the general who would then call the number.

"Is this Colonel Elizabeth Parker?"

"Yes it is."

"Enchante' Madame. I understand you are under some pressure from Washington about the embassy and the ambassador?"

"That is putting it mildly, General. The President is leaning hard."

"I can assure you that no one wants to do anything to any ambassador or embassy. That is from the absolute top. We hope to have the last of them in 24 hours and then things will settle down."

"That is good to hear. I will do my best to calm things down in Washington."

"You must visit Paris when it is quiet."

"I hope to do that soon, General."

Liz took a deep breath then pulled out her special encrypted satellite phone and called SOCOM direct.

"Sir. Just spoke to the source- a general inside Paris. Everything we have been able to find out backs him up that this is very temporary. Not a threat to any embassy."

"Hang on Colonel. Call this number- it is the White House."

Liz took a deep breath and told the Group captain she needed a room alone and he took her to a nearby conference room. She took another deep breath and called the number.

"Hold for the President."

"Colonel Parker."

"Mr President."

"What is the situation?"

"According to a French Air Force General I just talked to, they are surrounding all the embassies to make sure none of the suspects get asylum. That goes with what we have learned from other sources. At this time I can say with some confidence there is no threat to our Embassy."

"Very well. Straight, Colonel. If we have to force our way in what are the odds?"

"Getting in is one thing Mr President; getting out is another. I think we can get in; I doubt we can get out."

There was silence for a bit. "OK. Keep an eye on the situation. I want to know if anything changes right away. Use this number."

"Understood Mr President."

"Good day, Colonel."

"Good day, sir."

Liz took another deep breath. Then she headed back to Scotland.

The next day signs showed things were easing up and Liz was able to relax some. None of the scenarios she had looked at with the SF guys had been in any way encouraging. Two days later the troops around the embassies were removed and Liz took a real deep breath.

The riots in Brussels died down after a week and the government announced an even tougher budget. Those without employment would have to help collect garbage, street clean, etc in order to get a check. The fact that it stayed quiet after that showed that it was sinking in that the easy times of doing nothing and getting a fat check were gone.

After that was done in Belgium, Denmark and Netherlands followed. This kind of budget and hard core attitude spread steadily across Europe. Immigrants, especially those without jobs, left Europe and headed back east or south.

With the beginning of September what passed for a kind of normalcy began to return to Europe. The SF left and went back to the states and Liz took the unit off of Alert status. She then began to look at training again. She still had several British regiments interested and decided that since they were wanting to do it at different times that she would split the Regiment up so that everyone would get some time in.

The financial situation seemed to be sorting itself out better than anyone had thought it would. With the new tougher budgets, the countries found their credit ratings starting to climb, which made borrowing cheaper. The markets started to recover and gold and silver began to drop back down. All in all things looked like they would be all right.

The revolution season the Middle East had in 2011 had changed things in Libya and Egypt. Libya had its oil and was able to start to build something once they got decent leadership. Egypt, however, had not done so well. Which was not surprising to anyone that could look at the situation intelligently. Egypt had very little in the way of natural resources. So they did not have much that they did not make themselves. They had a relatively large population that was overall not very well educated. There was not a whole lot of industry and without an educated public not much more was going to be built. The new government made noises like they wanted a theocracy but that did not last long. However they managed to lose all their goodwill within a year of taking over from the Army. A year later and they were out. The next group was better but still hamstrung by basic economic realities. A large number of Egyptians had been run out of Europe and had to go home. They of course wanted some of the fat benefits that they had gotten in Europe. They joined the disaffected wanting more; not caring that there just was not more. The good news was that there were no real hard core Islams that had much support. The various opposition parties fought each other as much as the government. What had settled in was a stagnant situation unlikely to get better.

Syria still had Assad jr as leader, but was starting to frey around the edges more and more. Syria also had little in the way of natural resources or industry, though they had overall a better educated people than Egypt did. The army was not happy since its budget was cut but was forced to accept the fact that the country could tear itself apart if anything else was done.

Most of the rest of the Middle East continued to muddle along. Iraq was as it had been; still not totally peaceful but better than it had been. Israel and the Palestinians were still negotiating; probably would be for many more years. The Oil kingdoms just kept selling their oil. They sent enough to Syria and Egypt to prevent collapse but that was about it. Looking at the rest of Africa, Morroco was not doing too well taking back the thousands of immigrants from France. But it was holding on. Other than that Africa had not changed much.

Mexico had finally pulled itself out of the drug mess; helped when the US finally closed the border using regular troops and the national guard. This backed up by a new immigration bill that gave everyone 90 days to register or be tossed out to never be let back in. Those that registered had 5 years to become a US Citizen or leave. The new president of Mexico quietly asked for CIA assistance to kill the heads of the Mexican drug cartels. In one month the leaders of all of them were dead. With the US border closed and shut for once most of the drugs could no longer get through-and the gangs turned on each other to wipe out any competitors. Leaderless, they basically killed themselves off in a sea of blood. It was a terrible six months, but once it ended the Mexican people finally stood up and demanded an honest government. In the three years since that happened, a lot of progress had been made.

South America was quiet; Venezuela post Chavez had continued to put itself back together. Nothing major was going on elsewhere. The same for most of the Pacific as well. North Korea seemed to be steadily sinking; everyone around waiting for the final death throes. China would be concentrating on China for some years to come. Japan had begun to pull itself out of the post earthquake/tsunami/reactor melt down and was doing better.

Liz had instructed her intelligence chief to keep her up to date around the world; while spending most of his time on her area of responsibility. He was telling her one day in early October that things might be shaking lose in Russia. Liz looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"A very close friend of the Russian President was killed yesterday; probably by the Russian mafia."

She blinked at that. The Russian Mafia was very powerful, but that was a very dumb thing to do. The Russian president had been a protégé of Putin; and was known to be very tough.

The next day the Russian president ordered the security forces to destroy the Russian Mafia no matter what the cost.

And it would prove to be very costly. In the first month over 1000 were killed and 10,000 arrested. 3 assassination attempts barely failed. After the third one he declared Martial law, which was a joke since it had already happened for all intents and purposes. The Russian mafia had gotten very arrogant, sure that they would never be attacked directly. Therefore they had not been very careful about disguising who they were. Most of the military and virtually all of the more elite of the military were loyal and the Mafia died by the hundreds. Documents and paperwork captured implicated more than one third of the Duma and many government supervisors.

Needless to say many chose to run but found the borders closed on both sides; the other former parts of the Soviet Union began their own crackdown. Within three months the most feared Mafia in the world was destroyed.

Almost missed was another important happening; the application of a virus designed to specifically destroy the poppy plant. This had been known about since early 2000; and how it got out no one would ever admit. The CIA was suspected but no one found any evidence. It spread all over the world and the poppy plant virtually disappeared. Which meant the heroin that it came from disappeared. This was the final blow for the teetering drug world. Meth was still a problem but manageable since much more could now be brought to bear on it with the other drug problems disappearing. There would always be some but it was now something that no longer threatened to destroy cities and countries.

But for all the good news some bad started to also show up. The remnants of the Islamic extremists decided they needed to make a big statement that they were not yet defeated. And what better way to do that then with a big bang. But to do that you needed a big bomb. There had been a few other attempts at attacks similar to Mumbai, but they had mostly failed. They still had supporters in the ISI though nowhere near what they had before. They worked on a very secret plan; one they hoped would once again establish their power and reach.

Liz had started to do training missions again with willing British regiments; of which there were always some. With the passing of the holidays, and things settling down, Liz was contemplating taking some time off for a real holiday. Take Max and the kids somewhere for at least a week or more. With France becoming peaceful again, she was looking at the Riviera. Not too far away if she had to be recalled, but warm and sunny. Max leered at her and wondered if they could go to any nude beaches; she smiled at him and said NO.

The third week in January Liz took her first real leave in almost two years. They found a nice quiet area on the Riviera and just basked in the sun. They did not go into any nude beaches; but considering what was supposedly swim wear it did not make much difference. Liz put on a string bikini and got a very nice tan. Aliya had blossomed and this was also a bit of a celebration of her 15th birthday. Her naturally darker skin tanned very well; while Max and James had to slaver on the sunscreen. Liz was not aware that someone had recognized her and took pictures until they appeared in one of the French Newspapers a week later. Liz was very thankful she had not taken her top off. But Max told her she should be happy the pictures were so flattering. Liz was in top shape and the bikini certainly showed it. She looked years younger than 31.

Being who she was and her position Liz kept her satellite phone with her at all times. After their tenth day, with two more to go, she had just about forgotten it. They had just come in that evening to their motel room, ready to change and go out for dinner, when it rang. Liz sighed and answered it.

"Parker."

"Sorry to break into your vacation but we got put on full alert. You need to get back; no reason given."

Liz sighed and agreed. She looked at Max and he shrugged. "Oh, well."

"We need to get to the Marseilles Airport. They have a C-20 on its way; it should be there in about an hour."

Liz had brought a uniform with her just in case, which worked out well.

They finished talking and planning at 2100. Decided to let everyone rest as much as they could before cranking up at 2330. Liz was feeling pretty good but curled up in her Apache and got another hour or so. Finally she woke up at 2300 and got out; most were already stirring but she went around making sure everyone was up; and started pre flighting her Apache. Trevor was her Co pilot again. She walked around her bird; it looked good. They had full combat loads and full auxiliary tanks. 352nd SOG had come in and would be available to refuel. She looked around at the airfield; it was absolutely packed with Choppers and soldiers starting to get into them. The Chinook doors were open and the mortars and other heavy weapons were being loaded. She checked for messages; Jim let her know that he was with the last planes at Kandahar. They would unload and be ready by dawn. Liz debated this for a second; then decided that you never knew so she let it happen. He had 10 Black Hawks and 16 Chinooks. Almost enough to take another battalion. She had 40 Black Hawks and 8 Chinooks. The way it worked out they were almost balanced at transport ability.

2330 came and engines started. At 2345 they took off and began to form up. Liz after thinking about it hard decided to go with the reserve company; the Little Birds after a lot of thought were going to be left behind until the senior company commander came up with a plan; they had more Black Hawks then needed; put refueling tanks in 4 of them and refuel the Little Birds along the way. Liz finally agreed and 4 more Black Hawks were equipped as such at Kandahar and sent this way; they had landed right after 2230. They refueled their tanks and would go with the Little Birds. They left early at 2300 and headed out; the refueling spots for both groups were checked by satellite and shown to be empty. They were expected to join up with the main group right before the attack. Liz told them to move it – they would not wait.

Liz flew with the reserve company and they headed out a little faster in order to make the midway point first. Colonel Johnson went with the Southern group and his XO, Major Anderson, went with the Northern group. 12 Apaches would go with each group; senior captain in charge of the Northern group and Major Landon with the southern group. For the transport group one battalion commander took each. Little Birds had their Battalion commander in one and senior captain in the other. Liz had worked things for a while so that when commands were split everyone knew who commanded what.

Liz had her radio tuned into the regiment net that all the commanders were on; their copilots had the other net that the rest of the group was on. Liz had Trevor monitoring the command net in case something came up; they would be watching the satellites for any movement. At 0030, about 30 minutes out from the targets, Trevor called in to tell her to switch to command.

"VALKYRIE LEAD, to command."

"This is Command; we have unidentified vehicles heading towards both targets; ETA 40 minutes. Strength appears to be 100+; probably higher."

"Roger that. What direction are they coming from?"

"Northeast to South west for both."

"Roger."

Now Liz had to think; if she sent her Apache's ahead they could take out the forces coming. But what about the forces already there that maybe had not been spotted? And what if the guard unit had gone over?

"Valkyrie Lead to Little Bird lead. What is your ETA on Targets?"

"40 Minutes."

Liz then called the two Apache forces; they could get there maybe 5 minutes earlier if they floored it. She shook her head. No they went in together.

Liz then concentrated and then relaxed letting her thoughts go free. She began to get a feeling that the Southern group was the one to worry about. Over the years her feelings had never been wrong and now was not the time to second guess them. She called to the reserve commander.

"Team 3, Valkyrie Lead heading south. Hang in there."

"Roger." No one argued when the Colonel made a choice; she was always right.

Liz floored it, pushing the Apache to its limit. She just knew things would get sticky there.

Colonel Al Harif looked around at his command group.

"Are you ready to serve Allah?"

"Allah be praised."

"Kill them."

Within 15 minutes every loyal Pakistani soldier was dead; there were 80 men in the detachment; 20 loyalists; loyal to allah in their mind; killed the rest in a carefully planned attack. Now the brothers rushing to them would have a clear road to the weapons. This bunker was only 100 miles from Karachi; but it might as well be 1000. Loyal men had carefully sabotaged every helicopter at the army bases near the capital. No help would come soon. The only good road this way had been mined by those left behind in the column coming his way. The Colonel smiled; Allah be Praised.

A senior US army general made a call as directed by his president; the personal phone of a senior Pakistani General, commander of their Special Service Group. They had known each other very well over the years.

"Zia, Al Queeda is making an attempt to steal your nuclear weapons. The two bunkers nearest the capital. We have forces going there; they will hold until you get loyal men there."

General Zia al Huf was alert and moving. "Can I contact the commander?"

"Here are the two satellite phone numbers; the first is the aviation Commander, Colonel Parker of the 161st SOAR; the second is the SF commander, Colonel Johnson, 5th Special Forces group."

The General moved fast; he had very loyal men in charge of the Special Service Groups, the finest troops in the Pakistani Army. Night flying was not practiced all that often; but they had some specially designed to lead the rest.

The more northern Bunker's Guard force Commander was a loyal officer; he had been very careful about who he had let into his unit. This loyalty was tested when one of his sergeants attempted to knife him; his deputy shot him dead. The Colonel quickly realized there was trouble and had his men manning their positions in 5 minutes.

The operatives had been careful; they had sabotaged the communications system; the two bunkers were cut off. Only the presidential line was intact.

Colonel Johnson had been informed about the column; they were only minutes away as they neared the bunker. The Apache's moved to attack the column; the Attack Little Birds covered the landing of the Northern force.

It took the Apaches only minutes to find the force; and literally seconds to blow up every vehicle. 12 Apaches can do a lot of damage and they proved it.

Colonel Burn-Wilke led his men; sent them to surround the bunker complex.

The Colonel from his command bunker saw the explosions in the near distance; then he got reports of troops surrounding the bunker complex. His regular communications were not getting through. Then the Red Phone rang.

The General had gotten to the President; who quickly called the Northern Bunker.

"Colonel, This is the President, Authentication code as follows."

The Colonel verified the codes were correct. Was this war?

"Colonel. Al queeda is attempting to take our weapons. The Americans and British are surrounding your position. What is your situation?"

"Mr President, one of my men attempted to kill me; we are on alert. There have been explosions to the North East. My men report we are surrounded."

"The Americans have attacked them already. Hold your position Colonel. There are British troops all around you and American attack Helicopters in the air. Loyal members of the SSG will be there within hours to secure your position."

"Understood, Mr President."

But their attempts to contact the southern bunker failed. The General looked at the President. They were both very grim. One was secure; but the other?

Then an aide rushed up to the General.

"Sir, all the helicopters here have been sabotaged; it will take us hours to repair them."

"Send the closest unit there by truck as fast as possible."

He looked at the president. "They have prepared all too well."

There was nothing to say. He just nodded grimly.

Liz caught up to the Southern group and talked to the Major.

"Valkyrie Lead to Team 1. Are you ready?"

"5 mikes."

"Roger that."

"Doberman to Axman.

"Axman to Doberman."

"Axman, stay on plan."

"Roger that."

Liz then ordered the Little Birds with the Special forces unit to close up with her; the other Little Birds supported the Scots as they began to land.

Liz used her infrared scope to look at the complex. The vehicles had gone right in. No fighting.

"Valkyrie Lead to All units; no resistance at site. FREE FIRE."

They all acknowledged; Liz had just declared no friendlies on the ground. She then ordered the Axman to let go.

12 Apaches blew up the vehicles and then the buildings all around; rockets and hellfires.

Liz, with 4 little birds and an A team, headed for the bunkers ignoring the explosions and fire. Even with the explosions the expensive nightsight for the 30mm gave her a clear view. She saw a group of men rushing towards the bunkers and she let go with her 30MM, shredding them; but two had run ahead and got the middle door open; that was the one with the bombs. They dashed inside closing the door.

"Team 1 get down there."

The Little Birds landed the SF; went down to 20 feet and they rappelled down.

Liz lined up the closed door and let go of a Hellfire. Then another; then a third; it seemed to be sagging; probably had holes in it. She fired a fourth, aiming low; it hit the bottom of the door and lifted it off the shattered hinges and if fell forward. The SF team dashed up to it and she saw them throw something in; probably a frag grenade. At least two of them. She could barely see explosions inside. Several of the team rushed in. She could do nothing other than wait.

Seconds went by like hours.

Then out came a SF with a radio in his hand. She had switched to their frequency.

"Team one to Valkyrie Lead; items are secure."

Liz almost sagged but pulled herself up; Trevor was yelling victory screams.

Liz took a deep breath and pulled the Apache higher.

"Valkyrie Lead to command. Target 1 secure. No friendlies left on ground."

"Command to Valkyrie Lead. Confirm target one secure."

"Roger that command."

In the White House there was quiet jubilation. Then they started to make calls.

The General and the president waited. Not speaking. There were no words. Then the Generals satellite phone rang. He opened it.

"General, Colonel Parker confirms the items are secured. The Guard company partially mutinied and opened the doors for the raiders but all are dead."

The General let out a deep breath and smiled at the President who sagged in his seat.

"Thank You. I will now contact Colonel Parker."

As long as she was stationary the satellite phone worked well; so Liz was not surprised when it rang.

"Colonel Parker."

"Colonel this is General Al Huf. I am here with the President. I have been told they are secure?"

"Yes Sir they are secure. I have two companies on the ground and a third on the way. In a few hours I will send some of my Apache's to refuel but half of them will remain on site. The Scots have mortars and machine guns and are digging in. I believe the situation is stable."

"That is very good to hear. Unfortunately those unwashed sabotaged our helicopters in the capital so your relief is some time off."

Liz thought quickly. "General; my transport helicopters are capable of getting to Karachi and back with their current fuel; they can be there in less than an hour. They can pick up whoever you want and bring them here."

"Hold on please."

He looked at the president and quickly explained, and he nodded.

"Very good Colonel; send them to the army base just north of Karachi; you are aware of it?"

"They are sir. I can have enough there in an hour to transport two companies at least; in a little later they can take a Battalion. I can send for my reserves at Kandahar. They are two hours away. With them we can transport two battalions."

The General thought quickly. "DO so. I will send a battalion to each site."

"Understood sir, will start them now."

"Very good Colonel."

Liz called up and ordered the Little Birds back to the temporary base; and all others to Karachi. She then called Harkness and had them head towards Karachi as well.

The Scots had set up their mortars and were sending up Illumination rounds; Liz took off her night goggles and was able to see them digging in all around the bunker complex. She could see groups moving through the wreckage. She checked in with the Northern Group and it was secure. The Reserve company had landed and was moving in to bolster the defense.

Liz then had two thirds of the Apache's land and stay idling to conserve fuel. She stayed up with the rest. She looked at her watch; it was 0145. About 4 hours and a little more to dawn.

Liz had each of them spend an hour on the ground and then back up in the air she figured she could stretch the three hours they would have had anyway to 5.

Then the 352nd contacted her and informed her they were in the area; she sent off 4 right away; and over the next two hours got all hers and herself refueled; the Northern contingent was then refueled afterwards.

By 0330 she had refueled and was on the way back to the site. She got there at 0400 to hear that the first wave of the choppers with the SSG would be there by 0500. They would be getting to the northern site about half an hour later. The rest of the command had arrived in Karachi at 0400; they would make their drop-offs at about 0600.

It was all very anti climatic when the Pakistani SSG arrived; they got out and marched to the site; the SF team walked out and they walked in. The SSG moved down the line, replacing man for man the Brits in each position. The Brits shouldered arms and marched to the waiting Choppers. Since they had refueled in Karachi they could easily make it to Kandahar. In the northern site it was even more orderly. By 0800 everyone was either at Kandahar or just about there.

Liz was the last to leave, of course, but she floored her Apache and got to Kandahar by 0745. The C-130's had picked up everyone left at the temp air field and had taken them to Kandahar as well. Liz landed her Apache with the rest; with things so quiet this part of Kandahar was vacant so they had plenty of room.

She got out and headed towards the operations room. There she found most of the pilots of her Regiment and Jim Harkness. He handed her a cold drink which she drank right down. Sighing then she looked at him.

"OK. Let's get everyone together for a debriefing."

That took a little over an hour. Then Liz got a vehicle to take her to the Base HQ.

There she was greeted by the Base Commander who took her into the main comm center to the phone. She picked it up.

"Hold for the President."

Liz blinked and straightened up.

"Colonel Parker."

"Mr. President."

"First off congratulations on a successful mission. Second, what were our casualties?"

"A few minor wounds, mostly to the SF and Scots at the southern site, No serious ones and no one dead. No damage to any helicopters."

"Remarkable Colonel. Congratulations once again. I am told you will be heading home tomorrow?"

"Yes sir. We pack up our choppers today, get a good nights sleep, and get back tomorrow."

"I will then let you get things done colonel. Very well done."

"Thank You Mr. President."

Liz hung up and sighed. She looked at the Base Commander. "How about quarters tonight for my people?"

"Already arranged Colonel. My XO will show you to yours."

Liz followed the XO to the VIP quarters – rather lush. Liz went down to fetch her overnight bag which had been brought in with the items from the temporary field. She checked on how things were going; they were already starting to tear down the choppers; luckily they were being assisted by Base Personnel. She went to her quarters and showered and changed. Feeling better she went back to Operations. Nothing was going on so she told everyone that the day was theirs and to get a good nights sleep. Tomorrow morning they would be going home.

The news blackout in Scotland had finally been broken; the word was out that the whole 161st had suddenly taken off. The fact that the MOD had blocked all communications told everyone something big had happened; but they said no comment.

At the White House there was debate on how to handle all this. They decided to let the Pakistani's say something if they wanted to. Otherwise it would be called a training exercise.

The President of Pakistan was meeting with leaders and his cabinet. They were debating what to do. Most wanted to just deny anything major had happened. The Americans and Brits had already agreed to say nothing. However some shrewd ones noted that speculation was already going on; the frantic activity had been noticed. People would talk. The sabotaged Helicopters could not be covered up; too many knew. Others said so what? It would all blow away soon enough.

At Kandahar several enterprising reporters had already spotted the 161st. That word got out; and when the word of how the MOD had sat on things people started putting two and two together. Rumors were that the Apache's of the 161st had fired a lot of ordnance. So it had been a mission, not training. But where? As the word got out people started sniffing around. Then a couple called friends who called friends and it was discovered that the 2nd Scots had been out with them. And had come back. Then someone mentioned Karachi and the army base outside had been pretty busy.

All that day speculation spread. Then the word about a lot of Pakistani helicopters suddenly under repair. Then that two battalions of the SSG had suddenly left. Then a report that the 161st transport Helicopters had been at the Army base.

Meanwhile Liz got something to eat and tried to relax. She called Max and the family and talked to all of them.

Fox News and other media began to think something big had happened. But no one was saying anything. Which meant it had to be really big.

"This is Fox news Tonight. Rumors of a secret military mission are spreading all over Washington and elsewhere. Here is what we know:

"Approximately 36 hours ago the 161st SOAR in Raf Machrihanish, Scotland suddenly was transported to Kandahar Air Base in Afghanistan. Where they are apparently putting their helicopters back in the transports to go home. But information has come out that there was a combat mission involved; somewhere in Afghanistan. But no one knows where; there are no reports. Eyewitnesses reported that the Super Apache's of that Regiment had fired a lot of ammunition when they got back to Kandahar from wherever they were. Reports are that they were in the Army base near Karachi, Pakistan. The transports taking the 161st did not land at Kandahar; at least most of them did not; and especially all their attack helicopters. We will continue to try and get this story."

The White House saw that eventually most of it would come out; but the real meat of it would not for a long time if ever. And they were content to let it lay.

Meanwhile in Karachi another debate was brewing. Evidence was mounting that the attempt had been supported heavily by factions in the ISI. IT was now certain that the sabotage to the Helicopters had been done by ISI agents. The evidence at the one site showed that the Colonel there had turned. And had a good number of his command with him and they had murdered the loyal soldiers. The Colonel and his family had close ties to the ISI.

The Justice Minister was firm.

"It is time the ISI was brought down. We cannot wait any longer."

There was very little support for the ISI in the room but they were all aware of the risks of taking that powerful organization down.

General Al Huf had returned from looking over both sites. He spoke next.

"If we do this we have to justify it. The only way is to let it be known what almost happened and blame it on the ISI. Their support would disappear."

"The humiliation…"

"What is worth leaving those in place that tried this once – so that they can try it again someday?"

The President looked at the General. He nodded. Then he went around the room; one by one they all nodded in the end. The shock of what almost happened was with them; it could not be allowed to happen again.

The President called for a special meeting of the Parliament for two days from now.

Liz and the rest of her Regiment had gotten back to Scotland and were taking a well-earned rest. SOCOM had told her that a Presidential Unit Citation was in the works, but it would have to be a silent one. She was fine with that.

The President began his speech just as the SSG hit the HQ of the ISI and other units hit every known supporter.

IT was broadcast live all over Pakistan. And of course elsewhere.

"People of Pakistan, we have been betrayed by those that were supposed to protect us. 3 days ago traitors allied with Al Queeda attempted to steal some of the Nuclear Weapons meant to protect Pakistan to use for their own foul purposes. They murdered loyal Pakistani Soldiers. They were stopped by our friends and Allies from The United Kingdom and the United States. The traitors were primarily from the ISI. At this moment it is declared a rogue agency; all its files are to be seized and all its members will be detained and questioned."

This sent shockwaves all over that part of the world. The Indian Prime minister held an emergency cabinet meeting.

"How did we not know about this?"

"There was information something had happened but we had not yet confirmed anything."

"Well it is confirmed now."

The President looked at his National Security Advisor.

"Caught you by surprise as well."

"Sir, no one expected they would admit what happened. But it is clear they are using it to destroy the ISI. This is a very good thing, Mr. President."

That was agreed with almost universally.

Liz watched the BBC coverage and sighed. Things would not be quiet for a while. It had not taken long for the media to connect the dots.

"The MOD still refuses to comment; but it is clear that UK forces were involved with the operation. It is known that the American 161st SOAR in RAF Machrihanish deployed in an emergency manner. It is known that they were in Kandahar but most of the unit landed somewhere else and flew in there. It is known that the 2nd Scots left Kandahar on the 161st helicopters and came back. One can only deduce that they are the ones that protected the Pakistani nuclear weapons from being stolen by Al Queeda."

The President had quickly gone to Camp David and had escaped the media barrage. He called the British PM.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I believe we will probably have to tell the whole story."

"Probably. Clearly we need to make sure the ISI gets all the blame besides Al Queeda."

"Of course."

"Could you talk with them and see how they want to do this? I am very surprised as is all my advisors that they took this step."

"No more surprised than I and mine were. I will give them a call and see what is going on."

One nice thing about the base was that it was nicely fenced in. So it was not hard to seal it off. Despite the mob of reporters outside its gate.

That evening Liz sat on the sofa cuddling with Max. Then Aliya shrieked "MOM, look at this!"

"THIS" was pictures of the family down on the Riviera. The Sun. Liz in that string Bikini, Aliya in another; and Max and James playing on the beach. Liz groaned but Max just grinned.

"Sexy."

Liz did look very sexy. She was standing up peering over her sun glasses at Max. It was a very coy look; and she did look very hot.

"Hot on the Beach; and hot in the air" was the headline talking about her latest daring do then going over her whole career. And of course the fact that she was the first and still the only Knightress.

That photo spread around quickly. Liz just knew she was going to get a lot of heat about it.

The crackdown on the ISI went very quickly and quite well. The revulsion many felt about what almost happened stole what little support they might have had and many soon began to rat out the rest that had been able to hide. The SSG had been able to prevent most of the documents at the ISI headquarters from being destroyed and they proved a treasure trove; detailing just how corrupt and double dealing the ISI had been. Prominent political and financial figures were outed and the damage done to the secret intelligence establishment was immense.

The President had sent General Al Huf out to discuss the details of the nights events. Parliament had demanded a full explanation and he gave it to them.

Some of the ultranationalist types tried to use this to attack the President for the humiliation; but the canny General turned that right back on them for supporting the ISI in the past. He was very forthright in his praise of the US and UK forces for quickly moving. And he pointed out to them that their worry about trusting anyone in the Pakistan Government had been proven very correct.

"Now finally when someone has something of this importance to discuss, they can speak straight to us."

The President finally made a brief statement that for once the intelligence community had gotten things right far enough ahead of time for them to act on it. And since this had been a Special Operations mission they did not give details.

However the media wanted Colonel Parker to speak. The President simply said that she did not like to speak to the media and therefore she did not have to. Which left them very frustrated. He did throw them a crumb and announce that the 161st SOAR would receive a Presidential Unit Citation.

But the media pressure from all around the world continued to build. The White House was told they would have to give more. Finally it was decided to give the transcript of the radio communications. Which was very frustrating to some but fascinating to others. The DOD briefer was very helpful in translating the jargon. Then it was decided to release the actual tapes; the Super Apache recording all outgoing and incoming radio communications. It was digital and thus very clear. It was soon on You Tube.

Liz sighed again as she looked at her computer screen. There were her conversations during the mission for all to see and hear.

Her voice soon became very familiar. Liz had a quiet contralto that was very distinct. And her coolness and calmness was remarked on by many.

The DOD had informed the public that the informal title of the 161st was the Valkyries. Of course that was because of who their colonel was. Then it was mentioned that her call sign was Doberman. That got a lot of comments. Someone got a picture of her Apache with the artistic rendition of a Doberman with huge fangs and a very vicious look.

It was finally admitted that Liz had blown the door off of the bunker and that the SF discovered the Al Queeda agents inside already dead; the heat from the plasma jet that came from the shaped charge warhead of a Hellfire had heated the relatively small area inside the bunker to the point that it had for all intents and purposes cooked them. It was beginning to be said that she deserved another medal for this. A second DFC was probably coming, according to the Talking Heads. She was already acknowledged as the most decorated military person since 9/11.

Liz knew this was all going on but since she could not do anything about it she just started training her Regiment hard again. The mission had been good since it allowed her to gauge the units; they had all done well. She really did not have much to gripe about. So to make up for that she started doing war games; bringing in the officers and presenting them with different scenarios and then standing back to see what they would do. She started another crew competition to see who could service their chopper the fastest and still do it right.

The call from SOCOM was not exactly a surprise.

"Colonel, the 161st will be awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. You will receive your second DFC. The President will be visiting England as part of a European tour in May so that is when they will be presented. The Pakistani government will be awarding you, your unit and the Scots and SF a commendation as well."

After Liz hung up she sat in her office and thought about things. The medals and the commendations were nice; anyone who claimed they did not like being commended was either nuts or a liar. But she knew the clock was ticking on her days in command. This would be the last time she got to really command a unit; after this it would always be at least one step back; no more combat flying. Frankly not much flying at all. Sitting behind a desk. Her new career manager was an enthusiastic type; she was not yet sure enough to call him a used car salesman; not yet. He had told her that she would be going to Command School. Liz had to snicker at that: she had commanded a Company, Battalion and then a Brigade, twice actually. NOW they were sending her to command school. She knew it was a requirement before she got her first star. And there really was no doubt about that, he had told her.

Liz got up and headed out to home. To see her family. As she walked along, acknowledging the salutes of her people as she passed them, she wondered if she really wanted a star. And almost certainly more would come. Was it worth it? All the BS she would have to put up with that so far she had been incredibly lucky to avoid? She pondered that as she went to her family.


End file.
